For the last month of the year, we have a small but fine selection of exhibitions for lovers of minimalist art. In Knokke, the exhibition at De Brock Gallery focuses on the interplay of reduced form, space and color on paper. In London, the second solo exhibition by artist Tycjan Knut can be seen at Cadogan, in which he opens up a new level of minimalist exploration. A new solo exhibition with Richard Zinon is also opening at Cadogan but in Milan.
In Berlin, selected works with a minimalist aesthetic and works of the Minimal Art movement can be seen at the Neue Nationalgalerie in the context of historical, political and social events. Exhibitions by the artists Mark Rothko, Lee Ufan and Robert Ryman will continue to be on display until next year.
Group Exhibition: Drawn Minimalism
Knokke, De Brock Gallery, 05 November — 20 December, 2023
The exhibition “Drawn Minimalism” is a group exhibition that deals with the principles of American Minimalism on paper. Visitors are invited to experience the purity of form, the subtlety of color and the strong spatial impact representative of this movement. Highlights of the exhibition include works by important artists such as Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold and Robert Morris, who have contributed significantly to the discourse of Minimalism. “Drawn Minimalism” thus offers a rare opportunity to study the quintessence of this influential art movement on paper. The exhibition opened in November but can still be seen until December 20.
More information here: https://www.debrockgallery.com/exhibitions/drawn-minimalism
Extreme Tension. Art Between Politics and Society
Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, 18 November 2023 – 28 September 2025
The exhibition “Extreme Tension, Art between Politics and Society” has been on display at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin since November 17. It sheds light on the influence of profound historical events and upheavals – such as the Holocaust, the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall – on the visual art of this era. Of course, there are also a few works with a minimalist aesthetic among the numerous artworks on display: Donald Judd, Barnett Newman, Alberti Giacometti, Josef Albers, Lucio Fontana and others. So if you are in Berlin and want to see works by these artists, you should go to the Neue Nationalgalerie.
More information: https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/neue-nationalgalerie/exhibitions/detail/extreme-tension-art-between-politics-and-society/
Ongoing: ‘A Kind of Blue’ with Alexander Jowett & Luke Pestl
Toronto, Alison Milne Gallery, 16 November – 21 December
With “A Kind of Blue: The Solace of Open Spaces”, artists Alexander Jowett and Luke Pestl explore the dualities of the near and far, of the material and the immaterial. Alexander Jowett’s works are primarily muted and distilled images of mainly sea and sky horizon lines. They explore what writer Rebecca Solnit describes as “The Blue of Distance” – a concept that symbolizes the emotional and physical distance, longing and loneliness represented by the blue color we see in the distance. In contrast, Pestl explores the material and the ‘close’ with his tactile stoneware works.
Both artists create an atmospheric and contrasting exhibition, inviting viewers to view the artworks from both near and far. The experience is further deepened by a curated playlist, inviting visitors to linger longer than usual with the artworks.
More information: https://www.alisonmilne.com/artists-1/alexanderjowett
Tycjan Knut: Chroma Cut
London, Cadogan Gallery, 21 November – 23 December 2023
The exhibition “Chroma Cut” at the Cadogan Gallery in London presents new works by the Polish artist Tycjan Knut. It marks his second solo exhibition at the gallery. Knut’s artworks are characterized by his use of color gradients to recreate light effects and reflective structures to create an illusion of depth. His works consist of precise geometric shapes and sometimes play with optical illusions that simulate shadows.
More information: https://cadogangallery.com/exhibitions/70-tycjan-knut-chroma-cut/
Ongoing: Lee Ufan
Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof, 27 October – 28 April 2024
Lee Ufan’s impressive works can also be seen in Berlin. Namely, Lee Ufan‘s first retrospective is on view at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition features 50 works spanning five decades of his career and highlights Lee’s participation in the important art movements of Mono-ha in Japan and Dansaekhwa in Korea. The show also emphasizes Lee’s decades-long engagement with painting by driving a dialogue between his expansive work “Relatum – The Mirror Road” and Rembrandt’s iconographic “Self-Portrait with Velvet Barret.” The exhibition serves as a comprehensive introduction to Lee’s work, allowing viewers to rediscover the formative movements of Japanese and Korean art in the 1970s.
Read my review of the show here: https://www.aesence.com/lee-ufan-hamburger-bahnhof-berlin/
Richard Zinon. IX
Milan, Cadogan Gallery, 12 December
Also presented by Cadogan, but this time in the Milan gallery is a new solo exhibition by British artist Richard Zinon. His abstract paintings play with light and shadow to create a remarkable sense of depth, eschewing figuration or complex symbolism. Zinon often creates his works in a single sitting, which is reflected in the powerful energy and meditative beauty of his art.
More information: https://cadogangallery.com/artists/87-richard-zinon/
