Riverside Gallery presents the “Maximalism & Minimalism III” group exhibition by KNYAA (Korean New York Artist Association) from November 25 to December 2, 2023, with an opening reception on November 25th from 4 to 7 pm.

Exhibition Statement:

“Less is more” is a well-known Modernist statement to represent the aesthetics of Minimalism written by Mies van der Rohe. But in 1966, with “Less is a Bore” or “More is more,” Robert Venturi rebelled against the dominance of the Minimalistic Modernism by this statement to open up the new era, Post-Modernism. This quote then became the statement of Maximalism.

Interestingly mid 1970s in the United States, Pattern and Deocration art movement was prevailing as a Maximalist expression to cross over genre between art and design, to use and mimic multiple patterns of wallpapers, printed fabrics or quilt, to express the richness and the beauty of visual complexity. On the other hand, around the same time period in Korea and Japan, Dansaekhwa was dominated by avant-garde Korean artists including Ufan Lee; Park, Seobo; and Kim, Whan-ki; with non-figurative and experimental paintings in neutral hues which is an important part of Minimalism in Korean art history.

Today, increasingly, we are witnessing the current design and visual culture with joy of visual complexity in art, fashion, interior, movies based upon Maximalism influence. As Korean American artists, we are trying to reexamine the coexistence of two different extreme movements on both Maximalism and Dansaekhwa (Minimalism~) and to investigate the true values of those trends as part of Post Globalism era, which now originates from the rapid global interactions via internet and mass media. The Beauty of Newness emerges, with -ism beyond the geographical location. We hope that the audience and artists will find some clues of both extreme trends and the beauty throughout this exhibition.

- Jin Hwan Cho