The Unexpected Edge: Yugen in Contemporary Art at Cavin-Morris Gallery
January 3rd, 2012 at 08:00am Erica
Yugen is broadly defined as a Japanese aesthetic of Mysterious Beauty, best summarized by 13th century author Kamo no Chomei as “like looking at autumn mountains through mist…although few autumn leaves may be visible through the mist, the view is alluring. The limitless vista created in imagination far surpasses anything one can see more clearly” (from An Account of my Hut, 1212). Yugen encompasses an emotional response to beauty that cannot be conventionally articulated. To the Cavin-Morris Gallery in Chelsea, it was the thread connecting works of art from over a dozen international artists who make up their show ‘The Unexpected Edge: Yugen in Contemporary Art.
Yugen translates itself artistically through material and form: many, if not all the works in the show have what gallery Director Shari Caven calls, an ‘aggressive exterior.’ The crafting process is evident in what could be seen as an anachronistic patina: while all the works are contemporary, many have the appearance of age, with cracked, twisted and abused surfaces. Some artists take this a step further, such as Jerry Bleem, whose oddly-shaped vessels are made of screen wires and staples.
Jerry Bleem, Compress, 2001, Screen & Staples
In Japan, a true craftsman is one who allows irregularities to show, showing a keen awareness and appreciation for the similar unevenness of life. Yet beneath these rough, textured exteriors lies the heart of the yugen aesthetic—a sense of potential energy, mysterious and elusive.
The balance between form and energy is crucial to understanding the dynamics of yugen. Take, for example, Tadasi Ito’s Quintessence No. 14 (2011), a sculpture whose tightly enclosed appearance seems to capture space within it. With the understanding of yugen, an interesting connection can be made between this piece and Deborah Muhl’s Blue Aussie (2005), whose ‘unraveling’ sweet grass basket struggles between containment and release.
Deborah Muhl, Blue Aussie, 2005, Sweetgrass, waxed linen thread, rayon ribbons
According to Cavin-Morris, the mission of this show is to present the cognitive and spiritual essence of the work; its non-physical intentionality. In the East (as opposed to the West), craft is no considered a ‘genre’ of art, but is a multifaceted process of communication and response between artist and material. Yugen is just one of many terms in the aesthetic vernacular of Japanese culture, but embodies an intangible force which dictates emotional response in the viewer. For this reason, the gallery did not choose works that explicitly stated their intension, but instead choose the works that moved them in some indefinable way
‘The Unexpected Edge: Yugen in Contemporary Art” has just closed, but a full slideshow of works is available on the Cavin-Morris Gallery website. To see more works or art that embodies the principles and characteristics of Yugen, and other Japanese aesthetics, come see our show here at MAD, ‘Beauty in All Things,’ and read more about it HERE from Stanford University.
Entry Filed under: beauty in all things
2 Comments Add your own
1. Munira Naqui | January 3rd, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Appreciated the article very much. What a beautiful concept! The pieces are interesting, graceful and the simplicity of their forms are sublime.
2. MAD Blog » Having F&hellip | April 2nd, 2012 at 12:29 pm
[...] found at the Cavin-Morris booth (their gallery is based in Chelsea). You may remember the earlier review I did of their show, Yugen in Contemporary Art. I was pleased to see many familiar sculptures and [...]
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