TOMAS VU
FLATLAND
From March 18 to May 18, 2019
Curated by: Yann Toma
Opening March 18, 2019
Sorbonne Artgallery is pleased to present the Flatland series by TOMAS VU, on show from March 18 to May 18, 2019.
"In 2001, the towers fell and, a month later, I learned that I was going to be a father. This turbulent period gave birth to the Flatland series. Through Flatland, I have created a landscape that allows the fusion of opposing and conflicting forces: destruction and recovery, chaos and clarity, brutality and civility. These polarities stem from the constant battle in my head between memory and reality, specifically the memory of a distinct landscape that has been displaced. Current psychological reality combines memory, desire and uncertainty with the illusion of space and the physicality of surface. This perceptual power play, the excessive war waged between light and dark, is embodied not only in the use of chiaroscuro, but also in the exposure of numerous contradictions.
Une fois terminée, la série Flatland comprendra 102 tirages, chacun avec un titre temporel. Ces 102 pièces représentent les 102 minutes écoulées entre l’impact sur la première tour jumelle et l’effondrement de la seconde. Ce faisant, les tirages sont transformés en objets individuels, en quelque chose de plus proche de l’image fixe d’un film. Ils figurent une tranche d’un ensemble flottant, en mouvement constant. Lorsque ces oeuvres sont installées pour des spectacles, elles occupent une grille, passant souvent de l’obscurité à la lumière, devenant ainsi des fragments de paysages en mouvement et, prises ensemble, elles donnent une impression de mouvement à travers le temps. »
Tomas Vu was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and at the age of ten moved with his family to El Paso, Texas. After graduating in Fine Arts from the University of Texas (El Paso), he went on to earn an MFA from Yale University. He has been a professor at Columbia University School of the Arts since 1996 and was named LeRoy Neiman Professor of Visual Arts in 2000. In 1996, Vu helped found the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies. Since its creation, he has held the position of Director/Artistic Director of the Neiman Center.
