The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

14 Eugene Carchesio Australia b.1960 Howard Taylor 's silence 2002 Watercolour on paper 35.6 x 28cm Collection: The artist Courtesy: Bellas Gallery, Brisbane MATERIAL AND MEANING Lee U-fan is an artist, w riter and philosopher; these disciplines are vitally interlinked components in his practice. From the late 1960s Lee (who had moved to Japan from Korea in 1956) raised a set of critical propositions about the contemporary art of Japan. He became a key figure in the formation of Mono-Ha ('the school of things'), a movement that sought to shift the focus of contemporary Japanese art, recognising and acknowledging non-Western positions as an essential part of the contemporary avant-garde. Lee U-fan explores the interrelatedness of objects and ideas, consciousness and existence. Implicit within his philosophy is a critique of the monolith of Modernism. A prevailing definition of Japanese Modernism includes the wholesale appropriation of American economic and political policies, in tandem with Japan's authoritarian social systems. Since World War Two, the rush to modernise has resu lted in the development of a technology-driven, efficient society. However 'progress' has also implied ecological disaster, nuclear threat and an alienation of the self from nature. APT2002 Eugene Carchesio Green field with light (for Howard Taylor) 2002 Watercolour on paper 35.6 x 28cm Collection:The artist Courtesy: Bellas Gallery, Brisbane The metaphysics of Buddhist, Daoist and Zen philosophies are pivotal to an understanding of Lee's art. His paintings and sculptures examine notions of infinity and harmony. They consider the call igraphic stroke within a framework theorised as both contemporary and ancient, exploring the sensuality of the strident brushstroke amid the void of the surrounding canvas, and the relationships between screens fash ioned in metal, a man-made material, with stones formed by nature: Rather than the universe being infinite, I think infinity is the universe, so that the universe is a longing which we can not satisfy. My works are pictorial methods of seeking passage into infin ity. Infinity has always been my motif: in the series 'From Point' and 'From Line' in terms of conceptual repetitions; in that of 'With Winds' in terms of locational developments, where a place and an act call forth each other. 3 Resonances between the material and immaterial may also be perceived in the work of the late Montien Boonma, for whom Buddhism was foundational. His sculptural works draw on iconic designs and theological devices such as stupas and meditation chambers and he uses found materials (clay bells, straw and medicinal herbs) as intrinsic components. In his meditation structures, stacked with healing herbs, Boonma envelops the viewer w ith the astringent odours of the spices. Scent is used as a sensual trigger, and the Arokhayasala or 'temple of the mind' is engineered as transformative architecture, a place for reflection on the afflictions that beset body and mind.