The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of the work of James Lee Byars, the "magician of stillness", from May to July 2004. His oeuvre represents a unique symbiosis of Conceptual Art, Minimalism, and Fluxus. It is a testament to human striving for beauty and perfection.
American artist James Lee Byars (1932-97) is known for works characterized by extreme simplicity in form and material, while appearing astonishingly luxurious. His art is a unique synthesis of Conceptual Art, Minimalism, and Fluxus. Byars lived for many years in Japan, where he combined the formal and symbolic aspects of the Noh Theater and Shinto rituals with elements of Western science, art, and philosophy, and developed an appreciation for the transient, ceremonial character of performance as an essential quality of his art.
The catalog presents a critical review of Byars's oeuvre and traces his development as an artist from his formative period in Japan to his later years in New York-ranging from his performances and work on paper and fabric devoted to the theme of life, to the splendid late sculptures in gold, marble, and velvet which deal with death as the embodiment of perfection.
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