KATONAH, NY.- The Katonah Museum of Art (KMA) presents Wu Chi-Tsung: Synchronicity, the first museum solo exhibition of Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung. The exhibition showcases the artist’s multi-disciplinary practice and highlights the artist’s most recent Cyano-Collage series. This ambitious body of work seamlessly incorporates Eastern aesthetics with collage and photographic processes to create sublime reinterpretations of traditional Chinese Shan Shui (mountain-water) landscape paintings. The KMA is delighted for this unique opportunity to champion the innovative techniques and practices of one of the most exciting contemporary artists of our time.

Wu Chi-Tsung (b. 1981 in Taipei, Taiwan; lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan; Berlin, Germany; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) is a dynamic artist whose global practice spans a variety of mediums including photography, installation, video, and mixed media. He is best known for his experimental and interdisciplinary explorations of spatiality and time, and innovative approach to reconsidering traditional Chinese art practices. Wu Chi-Tsung has been the subject of numerous international exhibitions and his work has been included in numerous biennials, including the Venice Biennale, the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, and the Istanbul Biennial. His work is in public collections including M+, Hong Kong; the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; among many others.

Wu's interest in art began early on through his childhood study of traditional Chinese calligraphy and ink painting. He went on to study fine arts at the Taipei National University of the Arts, where he focused on Western painting techniques, before transitioning to photography, installation, and digital media. His practice is influenced by diverse artists and thinkers including Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely.

Wu’s formative practice explored themes of identity, consumer culture, and urbanization, and often used photography and digital manipulation to create surreal and fantastical worlds. He later turned his attention towards traditional Chinese painting, reimagining it through the lens of contemporary art and digital technology. His Cyano-Collage series, which is the focus of his first solo museum exhibition at the KMA, is the latest and most prodigious iteration of this ongoing exploration.

Wu Chi-Tsung: Synchronicity has been on view from July 9 through October 1, 2023, and comprises the entirety of the KMA’s exhibition spaces. The museum’s Beitzel and Righter galleries are featuring select works from the Cyano-Collage series that exemplify the ambitious scale and scope of Wu’s vision. The Righter gallery is also featuring a meditative video installation that highlights the artist's approach towards Chinese landscape painting and provides a unique opportunity for visitors to understand the myriad ways in which Wu’s work engages with and reinterprets tradition and nature.

Dust, an immersive, interactive installation that provides visitors with a visceral understanding of Wu's interest in spatiality and time is being presented in the Spot gallery. Dust highlights the artist's ability to create a transcendent experience for viewers through his groundbreaking use of techniques and materials.

The exhibition is accompanied by a dedicated website page, which includes a virtual tour of the exhibition, and public programs to elucidate Wu’s unique perspective that transcends disciplines, cultures and geographies.

On Thursday, September 21, the KMA will host a special panel with independent curator, Susan L. Beningson, and artist, curator, and art historian Arnold Chang, and KMA Executive Director Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, which considers how the genre of traditional Chinese landscape painting has been integrated into global contemporary art practices. The KMA’s robust education program will feature the exhibition as part of its curriculum, reaching over 4,000 children from more than 100 schools across five counties in New York state and Connecticut.

Wu Chi-Tsung: Synchronicity is a must-see exhibition that provides visitors with a unique opportunity to experience the transcendent work of one of the most exciting contemporary artists of our time. Through his inventive practice and deep knowledge of traditional Chinese art techniques, Wu has created a singular body of work that expands our perception beyond the confines of conventionally delineated geographies and mediums. The KMA is proud to present this important exhibition and invites all art enthusiasts to join us in exploring Wu’s timeless and boundless world.

Wu Chi-Tsung: Synchronicity is curated by KMA Executive Director Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe.

Katonah Museum of Art
Wu Chi-Tsung: Synchronicity
July 9th, 2023 - October 1st, 2023