When one stops to think about his or her own existence, what do you think they would think about? Their identity, characteristic, family or belief? Or, does it really all just boils down to the physicality of breathing, feeling, seeing and thinking?
Born in 1981 in Germany, John Franzen is one of our most respected artists not just for the intricate results of his artwork, but for his search and realization of life through the theories of astrophysics, quantum physic, Daoism, and Existentialism during his creation of art.
As he investigates into the idea of life, which existentialism explains as being “born with no purpose to life and it is up to the individual to seek meaning”; he is also investigating into “cosmology through the deconstruction of the physical, the spiritual and the existential”, which is what makes his creations so interesting and relative to the 1950s and 1960s avant-garde art movement, ZERO.
His solo exhibition at Parkview Art Hong Kong showcases his four-part series called “Existential Abstracts”, with “Each Line One Breath” being a piece from the first chapter. Taking the physicality of the lungs as his starting point, he treats each of his breath as the element, and as his draws, every single line corresponds to each breath that he takes. This organic and mechanical process results in this “quasi-automatic pattern of drawing”, where “as a result, the externalization of the artist’s emotions and thoughts are laid down in each piece”.
Existential Abstracts Pt. 1: Each Line One Breath
September 26th – October 31th, 2017
Park View Art Hong Kong: Upper G/F, Sunrise House, 27 Old Bailey Street, Central
Monday to Saturday: 11.00 – 19.00
