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Janice Mar Wong "The Space Between - The Shape of Sound"
Loww
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Artists
Janice Mar Wong
LOWW Gallery is pleased to present solo exhibition of Canada-based artist Janice Mar Wong.
Janice Mar Wong’s artistic practice spans painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and ceramics. Her work consistently embodies a sense of distillation and stillness, a capacity for spaciousness and contemplation.
The exhibition The Space Between, The Shape of Sound draws inspiration from the concept of 間 “Ma”—both as an ideogram and a philosophical principle—encompassing the physical and liminal states of "in-between." This idea conveys the profound, unspoken connections that can emerge within the spaces between sights, sounds, gestures, and moments. Wong resonates deeply with this idea. As a multi-generational Chinese-Canadian navigating dual worlds, shaped by the loss of language and culture, she expresses herself through subtleties, gaps, gestures, and coded meanings. What she once viewed as a subtext in her work, she now recognizes as its essence: the “space between” is central to her identity and creativity.
At the heart of this exhibition is a set of nine new drawings, the latest additions to her ongoing series The Shape of Sound, which began in 1997. This new set represents an exciting collaboration with Tokyo-based musician Takeshi Nishimoto, who has composed nine distinct solo guitar compositions, each responding to these drawings.
Like many, Wong studied music in her youth, learning music notation alongside reading and writing. Her fascination with the idea of formal notation as a visual code for sound has long informed her abstract work. Her drawings loosely reference the structured yet interpretive nature of notation. While not literal transcriptions, her pieces evoke rhythms, shapes and gestures, offering a visual interpretation of sound and its fluidity.
The formal language of music notation shares affinities with ideogram-based writing systems. Unlike Western languages, where letters primarily represent phonetic sounds, a single ideogram—whether Chinese Hànzì or Japanese Kanji—evokes layers of association and ideas, a poignant reminder that a single ideogram can evoke not just a word, but an entire realm of understanding and reflection, concepts and emotions. Similarly, music notation conveys a diverse range of emotions, dynamics, balance, and tone—qualities that parallel those of visual art and even mirror its descriptive language. This connection between visual and auditory mediums creates a bridge—the "space"—between them.
As companions to the drawings, Wong’s paintings, print work, and ceramics explore both space and form—the potential of a vessel, the optimism of a bowl, the relationships between objects, forms, and function.
Janice Mar Wong’s artistic practice spans painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and ceramics. Her work consistently embodies a sense of distillation and stillness, a capacity for spaciousness and contemplation.
The exhibition The Space Between, The Shape of Sound draws inspiration from the concept of 間 “Ma”—both as an ideogram and a philosophical principle—encompassing the physical and liminal states of "in-between." This idea conveys the profound, unspoken connections that can emerge within the spaces between sights, sounds, gestures, and moments. Wong resonates deeply with this idea. As a multi-generational Chinese-Canadian navigating dual worlds, shaped by the loss of language and culture, she expresses herself through subtleties, gaps, gestures, and coded meanings. What she once viewed as a subtext in her work, she now recognizes as its essence: the “space between” is central to her identity and creativity.
At the heart of this exhibition is a set of nine new drawings, the latest additions to her ongoing series The Shape of Sound, which began in 1997. This new set represents an exciting collaboration with Tokyo-based musician Takeshi Nishimoto, who has composed nine distinct solo guitar compositions, each responding to these drawings.
Like many, Wong studied music in her youth, learning music notation alongside reading and writing. Her fascination with the idea of formal notation as a visual code for sound has long informed her abstract work. Her drawings loosely reference the structured yet interpretive nature of notation. While not literal transcriptions, her pieces evoke rhythms, shapes and gestures, offering a visual interpretation of sound and its fluidity.
The formal language of music notation shares affinities with ideogram-based writing systems. Unlike Western languages, where letters primarily represent phonetic sounds, a single ideogram—whether Chinese Hànzì or Japanese Kanji—evokes layers of association and ideas, a poignant reminder that a single ideogram can evoke not just a word, but an entire realm of understanding and reflection, concepts and emotions. Similarly, music notation conveys a diverse range of emotions, dynamics, balance, and tone—qualities that parallel those of visual art and even mirror its descriptive language. This connection between visual and auditory mediums creates a bridge—the "space"—between them.
As companions to the drawings, Wong’s paintings, print work, and ceramics explore both space and form—the potential of a vessel, the optimism of a bowl, the relationships between objects, forms, and function.
Schedule | Oct 11 (Fri) 2024-Oct 29 (Tue) 2024 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://www.loww.co.jp/janicemarwong | ||||
| Venue | Loww https://www.loww.co.jp/ | ||||
| Location | 1F, 1-6-6 Oookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-0033 | ||||
| Access | 2 minute walk from North exit of Ookayama Station on the Tokyu Meguro and Oimachi lines. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6421-1784 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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