Page 4 - Yangon Art

Discovering the archipelago
of contemporary Myanmar art

The productivity and energy of Myanmar cultural system accompanies an expressionist style and ephemeral
are the protagonists of Yangon Art Expo 2017 a geometry. The core of the works on display in the
pioneering international cultural project. Yangon Art discovery island tell about the birth of a new vision of
Expo programme invite masters and emerging artists to reality promulgated by art masters who have market the
exhibit their work with the aim of creating a stimulating, dawn of contemporary art in Myanmar.
accessible, open and dynamic atmosphere in a city
environment, suitable to attract the public to new forms Colors and Surfaces Island.
of expression. The timbre thickness of the material colour accompanies
Totally dedicated to contemporary art this prestigious the dynamism of the moving line and its broken trace.
event shows the energy and spirit of Burmese artists Together these dimensions travel on the canvases
who look at some XXI century cultural key issues, while housed on the colors and surfaces island where the
relating to the extraordinary opening and growth of their new experimentalisms of Myanmar art come to inspire
country without sacrifcing its traditions and culture. spiritual tensions and vibrations that touch the cords of
The indissoluble bond between art and territory, and the interiority.
relationship between local and global identity, are the
fulcrum of our programme. The curatorial strategy Hyper Island.
promotes a critical refection on identity and on the In the plurality of the means and processes used, in the
preservation of cultural diversity and introduce the diversity of their stylistic elements, the glance of those
public in new research areas to discover the Myanmar who approach the island of Hyperontemporary is lost.
art archipelago where ancient traditions and global Dead nature, Pop icons, and surreal views are
renewals visions both produce and critically investigate amalgamated in close dialogue with the will to tell and
cultural transitions in today’s culture. Such synergies participate in the present.
revealing a fowing and prolifc art activity in fervent
development and invite to explore a set of symbols, Light and Shadows Island.
signs and values, both material and immaterial, that Presence and absence of looks, gloomy backgrounds
blend into an articulated relationship between where shadows are animated and lights play in
interdisciplinary view of visual arts interact with and polychromatic vortexes. On light and shadows island,
relate to social transformations. the visitor is catapulted into the world of the fragile
The art of far East has now emerged from an artistic innocence and ritual of the female universe immersed in
marginality in which it was forced by the predominance moments of domestic life and public atmosphere.
of Western centrality. Globalization has standardized
canons, convinced artists to follow space installation Spirit and Mind Island.
exercises, placing the art market at the centre of the In the spirit and mind island iconographies with highly
function of critics and curators. Few countries still symbolic connotations, references to ancient beliefs
maintain artistic independence by referring to their and mythical traditions, semantics and sacred sacrifces,
cultural backgrounds, to social and ideological traditions, become the subject of artistic representation and carry
to their natural and constructed environment. Yangon the meditation of those who look to the sublime and the
ART EXPO 2017 moves the focus of attention to far dharma.
East by placing it in the archipelago of Myanmar art
culture. Urban and Country Island.
By leveraging on the freedom of non-proft cultural In urban and country island there is an aesthetics that
organization, using the criteria of independent and non- refects the cultural trend of the Buddhist country’s’
post colonial art criticism, Culture2ALL with Yangon references, hovering between tradition and global
ART EXPO 2017 brings to the international attention dimensions. The inseparable relationship between art
seventy artists analyzed through critic methods and and territory and the link between local identity and
clustered in seven most signifcant islands . In the economic development are the pivot around which the
liquidity of western society, Myanmar offers an exhibited works rotate.
archipelago in which the element fows through well-
defned landing points for artistic culture, traditional Special Projects Island.
references of the society and monuments of mind and The site-specifc projects promote and produce
soul. interaction with social fabric. The artwork elaboration
The Yangon ART EXPO leads international attention to connects artists with the conformation and identity of a
an artistic universe, a system of islands semantically specifc urban space, in this case a place of artistic and
defned which form the archipelago of contemporary art social cohabitation.
where it is possible to get lost between the colours,
emotions, views, sensations, innovations and traditions Eugenia Battisti
that only Myanmar can provide. Mauro Salvemini

Discovery Island.
The sensational prospecting breakthrough of November 2017
abstractism, enriched by a nearly metaphysical dream,