Artist, Independent Curator
Solo Exhibition:
2016
THE SEGMENTS
Conceptual Miniature
Less is more. There are no other representations.
How to come to terms with the word Beauty? It depends not only on the physical aspects of nature but also on the mindset and mood of the beholder. Ultimately, the basic forms of nature as simplified objects can help us to better contemplate
the balancing aspects which beauty serves in our lives.
We constantly grapple with and live by formal understandings of visual culture, though this understanding may not enter our daily consciousness. We cringe at informal encounters. I believe that the ultimate conditions such as time and space can provide us with fully formal thought processes, which we can use to reinterpret formal definitions of our surrounding culture, beyond mere representations. This exhibition attempts to contain the essence of plain, or simplified. The simplified surface, the lines and curves, merely give one a sense of the object itself, and the audience member can choose whether to complete the object as part of some larger form, or consider the form in isolation, and how it connotes a sense of beauty. The artist’s role is based on a psychological state. When an artist wishes to simplify in order to investigate form, how can he/she do so? In consideration of the audience, how does the viewer manage the artist’s expectations of what is seen or not seen?
Do these Segments have the potential to reintegrate and reconstruct the way we view form in visual culture?
Aung Myat Htay, 2016
22- 27 July 2016, Myanm/art Gallery.
The Blocks
(Non-Monumental Forms)
Fiberglass, metallic colored paper, plants, 12.5 x 12.5 x 45.7 cm (each)
These objects mimic the similar lines and shapes of varied surfaces of traditional monument buildings, in this case, a re-simplification. The first lessons in an artist’s life are the nature of lines and shapes. The curves and edges in an ancient pagoda have meaning, as do the pediments and columns of a temple. How can we apply these meanings to our complex existence, sensory overload, and questions of faith in structures?
The Columns
(Non-Monumental Forms)
Metallic colored paper, cardboard frame, 10 x 10 x 142 cm (each)
The Buddhist Dhamma teaches Less is More. The simplest way of making will remind us of the very beginnings of life. Sometimes I go to Shwedagon Pagoda with my friends, sometime not to pray, but to observe the structures, to consider their presence, and to deconstruct the meanings and symbols to the point of least resistance. It is not easy for me to portray merely the parts of the whole, but it assists my process.
