DAVID ZINK YI.
Manganese Make My Colors Blue
Until 6 March 2011
Stubenring 5
1010 Vienna
Austria
www.MAK.at
Opening Hours:
Tue MAK NITE© 10:00 a.m.–12:00 midnight
Wed–Sun 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
In the exhibition, the sculpture which is modeled on the Architeuthis, the giant squid, a fabulous ancient sea animal, is juxtaposed to nighttime photos of a cedar. The pictures oscillate between abstract motif and suggestive metaphor. Together with the sculpture and the whole atmospheric setting that Zink Yi develops for the MAK Gallery the objects unfold into studies of form and aesthetics, matter and transformation. Interested in its unique anatomy, Zink Yi translates the lifeless body of the squid, a mythological creature and much represented subject in fine and applied art well up to the mid-19th century, into contemporary sculpture.
The counterpart of the sculpture are large-sized photographs of a cedar, the motif of an abstracting understanding of form and a dualist symbol of the division between nature and culture as well as a vision of a universalist world view. Photographed at night, the structure of the tree transforms into an apparently three-dimensional carrier of color and light. In the interplay of formations of organic structures, which he sets up as models, as it were, Zink Yi operates in the field of tension between reality, materiality, and the dissolution of narrative interpretation.
The artwork of Zink Yi, born 1973 in Lima, Peru, comprises sculpture, installation, photography and film. Thematically, Zink Yi, who lives and works in Berlin, addresses universal issues of identity and world-view. Starting out from analytical creative processes, he subtly formulates social stocktakings that reflect breaches of cultural codes. Based on intensive research and innovative ways of production, the development of Zink Yi’s projects frequently takes several years. In a fragmentary manner, he also introduces biographical references and mythologically charged visual narratives that combine into scenarios between reality and fiction.
David Zink Yi studied at the Munich Art Academy from 1997 to 1999 and at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1998 to 2002; in 2002/2003, he was in the master class of Lothar Baumgarten. Selected solo exhibitions: Galerie Johann König, Berlin (2010); Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2009); Open Space – Art Cologne (2008), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2006); Kunstraum Innsbruck (2005).
*Image above:
Courtesy Galerie Hauser & Wirth.
© David Zink Yi/MAK.
