Works by Irene Chou on view at the 24th Biennale of Sydney.
Ten Thousand Suns
Exhibition Period: 9 March - 10 June 2024
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
The 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, ignites its transformative power of art across six iconic Sydney locations. The exhibition showcases the visionary creations of leading artists from diverse corners of the globe, all within the hallowed halls of Sydney’s most iconic cultural institutions.
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Irene Chou, an innovator of the New Ink Art movement, replaced the formal system of brushwork used in traditional ink painting with her own unique and abstract style. Relying on the medium’s philosophical foundations, New Ink Art melds centuries-old techniques with contemporary and non-Chinese art theories to fold time and tradition into new forms.
Chou’s own spiralling and emotive works position the artist as a creator of worlds within worlds, rather than an observer of landscape; particularly poignant for an artist who spent a significant swathe of her working life away from her home in mainland China. One of the few women working in New Ink Art, Chou’s contributions to contemporary art are applauded across East Asia, yet she is little known in Australia, despite having lived in Meanjin/ Brisbane for 20 years.
In the face of the West’s historical Eurocentrism, Chou’s work, so powerfully balancing self and the cosmos, is a testament to a truer art history, as broad and complex as the artist’s own swirling constellations.
Text courtesy of the Biennale of Sydney.
(1) Irene Chou, 24th Biennale of Sydney (installation view). Courtesy of the Biennale of Sydney. Photo: Hamish Macintosh.
(2) Irene Chou, The universe is within our hearts I, 1992. Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Courtesy the artist © Irene Chou Estate.
(3) Irene Chou, First Landscape, 1986. Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Courtesy the artist © Irene Chou Estate.
(4) Irene Chou, The universe is within our hearts II, 1992. Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Courtesy the artist © Irene Chou Estate.
Learn more --
https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/participants/irene-chou/
