Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue

Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue

30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023

M WOODS 798

Curated by Victor Wang, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M WOODS

“I’m interested in the idea that a work can be almost invisible until it catches your eye, after which it becomes almost hyper visible and establishes an encounter: you could walk past without noticing it, but it creates an experience when you do” - Ann Veronica Janssens

The renowned Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens will be presenting her first solo museum exhibition in China at the M WOODS Museum, Beijing. The exhibition, entitled pinkyellowblue, is curated by Victor Wang as a meditative journey through Janssens’ 40 years of working with colour and light in motion, a survey exhibition that will feature a selection of Janssens' luminous and sensorial works, inviting viewers to enter an immersive spectrum in which colour and light combine to expand the senses and stimulate perception.

Installation view, pinkyellowblue, 2015-2023, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Installation view, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Janssens’ art resonates with both Eastern philosophy and the opulent harmonies of colour and light inherent in movements of the 1950s and 1960s such as Op Art, Minimalism, and Light and Space. The artists associated with these movements examined sensory and perceptual experiences through optical illusion and the manipulation of perception, echoed in Janssens' use of light and space as mediums in themselves. In the context of China, Janssens’ practice also finds a synergy with the philosophical traditions of East Asia, particularly Buddhism, in which different hues are believed to align with distinct mental states or qualities.

Installation view, Sky, 2002 -2003, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

This survey exhibition, which includes important works from Janssens’ career, was planned by the artist and the curator over several years and is constructed as a series of experiential encounters and ‘sensory modalities’ that highlight the fundamental ideas and concepts that Janssens has been exploring in her work for four decades. The core of the exhibition, as an immersive body of color, consists of several of the artist's key works, including pinkyellowblue (2015-2023) and a new Beijing version of Janssens’ celebrated ‘glitter’ sculptures. These works demonstrate Janssens' exploration of the dematerialisation of sculpture, unbounded by material or form. pinkyellowblue is an immersive installation that uses light and color to offer the viewer a sensory and perceptual experience. The work consists of a single space infused with hues of bold, bright color and fog. As the viewer moves through the space, the colors blend and shift, creating a sense of movement and transformation: a journey for the mind and body through color and space. Untitled (Silver Glitter) is another ethereal work that uses dispersed glitter to create a sea of silver color and light on the gallery floor. As the glitter is released into the gallery’s space, it dances and swirls in the air, creating a floor-based sculpture. Like pinkyellowblue, this work highlights Janssens' exploration of the ‘instability of material’, as it focuses on sensory and experiential aspects rather than on physical form.

Installation view, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Installation view, Eclipse – Shanghai, China 2 (after) (fine), 2009, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Installation view, pinkyellowblue, 2015-2023, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

The exhibition, planned to coincide with the summer solstice, is structured as a journey into the expanded realm of sculpture, offering a transcendental experience in which colour and light become a primary gateway for understanding Janssens’ investigation into ‘soft sculpture’. It brings together significant works that highlight the artist's approach to making art that examines sculpture through an interdisciplinary approach.

Key works that consider the relationship between the viewer, the museum, and light, such as Hot Pink and Turquoise (2006) and Rouge 106 Bleu 132 (2003), are exhibited for the first time in Beijing. In these works, Janssens blends continuous fields of light with the architecture of the museum to produce unique spaces that absorb the viewer in spectrums of colour. Both the visual and the experiential nature of these works in the context of the galleries are thus enhanced, and each room is filled with soft hues of coral and cerulean light, creating a sense of warmth and temporary tranquillity.

Installation view, Rouge 106 - Bleu 132 (Scale Model), 2003 - 2023, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing,
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

We invite audiences to consider the limits of their own perception through Janssens' art, and to explore how the artist complicates our understanding of the material and the immaterial in art. The sensory experiences created by Janssens’ use of light and colour, set in the transition to summer in Beijing, will leave an enduring impression on the viewer, offering a deep level of engagement with the work and enabling further consideration of the relationship between our feelings and our observance of reality. This is an unmissable opportunity to have your perceptions challenged and your mind expanded by Ann Veronica Janssens’ immersive, experiential art.

《幻视》，1997，黑白印刷，尺寸可变，致谢艺术家与艺术家工作室

Installation view, Scrub Colour 2, 2002, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Installation view, pinkyellowblue, 2015-2023, Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue, M WOODS Museum, Beijing.
30 June 2023 – 26 November 2023.

Photo: portrait of Ann Veronica Janssens, ©Andrea Rossetti , courtesy Esther Shipper Berlin

Ann Veronica Janssens was born in 1956 in Folkestone, England. She studied at L’École de la Cambre in Brussels. The artist lives and works in Brussels.

 Among her numerous solo exhibitions are: Entre le crépuscule et le ciel, Collection Lambert, Avignon (2022); gam gam gam, Galleria d'Arte Moderna – GAM, Milan (2021); Hot Pink Turquoise, South London Gallery, London (2020–21) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2020); Contrepoint 2, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris (2019); Ann Veronica Janssens, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2018–19); Fog Star, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (2018); Ann Veronica Janssens, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2016); Ann Veronica Janssens: yellowbluepink, Wellcome Collection, London (2015); Serendipity, WIELS, Brussels (2009); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (2003); Rouge 106, Bleu 132, Musée d’Orsay, Paris (2003); and Light Games, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2001), amongst many others.

Selected group exhibitions include: Fata Morgana, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2022); Chagall. Le passeur de lumière, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz (2021); Time is Thirsty, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2019); Luogo e Segni, Punta della Dogana, Venice (2019); Space Shifters, Hayward Gallery, London (2018); Poïpoï, une Collection Privée à Monaco, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (2017); Daniel Buren – A fresco, BOZAR – Centre for fine Arts Brussels (2016); Illumination, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2016); Manifesta 10, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (2014); Des choses en moins, des choses en plus, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014); Dynamo, Un siècle de lumière et de mouvement dans l’art 1913-2013, Grand Palais, Paris (2013); Fruits de la Passion, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2012), amongst many others.

Janssens's work is held in the collections of Caldic Collection – Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; De Pont Museum, FNAC, Paris; Fundación Jumex, Mexico City; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; mac, Marseille; Mona – Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; MUHKA, Antwerp; Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Mu.ZEE, Oostende; Musée des Arts Contemporains – Grand Hornu; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; S.M.A.K., Gent; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, and many others.