Catherine de Zegher

n 2012, Simryn Gill (Malaysia, 1959) gave one of her major works to the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK), comprising 12 panels with work on paper called 'Let Go, Lets Go'. To honor this gift, it was presented to the public, eventually accompanied by a book containing an essay by Jan Braet and Catherine de Zegher, in the exhibition 'The (hemi)cycle of leaves and paper'.

Educated in India and the United Kingdom, Gill works in sculpture, photography, drawing, and writing. She is a systematic collector, especially of books as objects of reverence and dispute. Several of her projects involve erasing or excising the printed word in a microcosmic struggle with authority as embodied by canonical texts. In 'Pearls' (2000– ), for example, she turns beloved volumes into paper pulp beads. Gill is a tinkerer, altering mundane objects and sites via poetically critical sleight of hand. She aggregates her modest interventions into encyclopedic series comprised of dozens of components, in which the smallest gestures — often repeated or expanded — generate resounding statements.… (meer)

3x an Abstraction presents the extraordinary work of three important women artists whose innovative ideas and approaches to drawing had a significant impact on the history of modern abstraction. Hilma af Klint (Sweden, 1862–1944), Emma Kunz (Switzerland, 1892–1963), and Agnes Martin (Canada, b. 1912; U.S. citizenship 1950) approached geometric abstraction not as formalism, but as a means of structuring philosophical, scientific, and spiritual ideas. Using line, geometry, and the grid, each of these artists created diagrammatic drawings of their exploration of complex belief systems and restorative practices.
Noteworthy among the 150 illustrations in the volume are a large number of works by Hilma af Klint, reproduced here for the first time in a major publication; Emma Kunz’s drawings, exhibited in the United States for the first time in 2005; and approximately 20 early works by Agnes Martin. The book also includes writings by each of the artists, an introduction by Catherine de Zegher, seven essays by distinguished contributors, and brief statements from five contemporary artists.
By considering collectively the works of these three artists anew, 3x an Abstraction highlights the artistic contributions of af Klint and Kunz and revisits the work of Martin from a new perspective.… (meer)

see also: issue 1 of n.paraqdoxa for an interview with Catherine De Zegher (copy in bildwechsel)

From amazon.co.u:
Published on the occasion of a major exhibition opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, "Inside the Visible" presents a gendered reading of more than 30 women artists of vastly different background and experience. The work of important yet previously "invisible" figures is highlighted alongside the work of established artists to create a re-theorized interpretation of the art of this century. Structured in terms of recurrent cycles over time, "Inside the Visible" focuses on three periods (the 1930s and 1940s, the 1960s and 1970s, and the 1990s) that anticipated a wave of political repression, nationalism, and xenophobia, often stimulating artistic production that redefined practice. Illustrated essays document each artist in the collection. In addition, four general essays trace the connections among the artists. These take up such issues as why artistic recognition eluded certain artists and why their work is only just becoming visible today. They also address overlapping themes such as gender and sexuality; the intersection of racial, class, ethnic, sexual and regional identities; and the nature of the relationship between work and viewer.… (meer)