Illuminations: London Tsai and Wen-Ying Tsai

Runs / May 6 - June 26, 2022

Reception First Friday, May 6, 6-9 PM
Gallery Hours / Sat-Sun from 2-6 PM

Special hours during International Conference for Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 
Monday, May 23, 4-6 PM / RSVP here.
Tuesday, May 24, 5-7 PM / Tour with the curators and artists, + wine reception. Purchase a ticket for the exhibition tour here
Wednesday, May 25, 12-2 PM / RSVP here.

Grizzly Grizzly is pleased to announce the father-son exhibition Illuminations, featuring “Tsaibernetic”  sculptures by artist London Tsai and two-dimensional  works by his late father, cybernetic sculptor Wen-Ying Tsai. The exhibit is part of a series of collaborative exhibits presented by RAD Lab and the 2nd floor galleries of the 319 Building, for the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. In Illuminations London explores how an art process is passed down through generations. He embodies not only the physical process of making that captivated his father, but a manifestation of his father’s aura, as London establishes his own voice in cybernetic sculptures. 

In Thermopylae, a sculpture composed of shaped and welded aluminum sheet and TIG-welded tubular structures, London mourns his father’s passing paying homage to him by embracing digitally-controlled motors, LED strobe lights, and arduino-controlled feedback systems. He finds inspiration for Thermopylae through conversations with one of his father’s best friends, composer Professor Chou Wen-Chung. London challenges his sensibilities for a smooth curved surface conforming to the tubular structure – half of Thermopylae’s aluminum surface reveals a jagged, imperfect rock-like surface. Like a Chinese intellectual who contemplates a stone on his desk before beginning to write, London invites visitors to observe and ruminate on the materials and movement of the work. 

London explains, “My sculpture practice continues my father’s tradition of making work by hand and vigorously eschews the labor of others to fabricate art objects. Whereas my father’s sculptures aspired to a modern industrial look, mine are unabashedly hand-made–their surfaces retaining the marks of my hammering and welding.” 

Illuminations offers a glimpse into London Tsai’s journey, informed by his experience growing up immersed in the New York art scene of the 70s and 80s, and his father’s art practice, Wen-Ying Tsai, pioneer of cybernetic art. Both embrace a fascination with technology in relation to cultural production and serious play within their work. 

2020-22 Grizzly Grizzly programming and residencies are supported by Added Velocity which is administered by Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University and funded by the William Penn Foundation. Additional support for this exhibition was provided by The RAD Lab. 

Artist Bios

London Tsai (b. 1970) is an American artist known for mathematically-inspired paintings and sculptures, the latter composed of shaped and welded aluminum sheet, TIG-welded tubular structures, and since 2017, as an extension of his father’s practice, digitally-controlled motors, LED strobe lights, and arduino-controlled feedback systems. London Tsai was born in Cambridge, MA and grew up in Paris and New York. He received his BS in math from Tufts University and his MA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Wen-Ying Tsai (1928–2013) was an American sculptor and artist best known for creating sculptures using electric motors, stainless steel rods, stroboscopic light, and audio feedback control. Wen-Ying Tsai was born in Xiamen, China and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he attended the University of Michigan, receiving a B.S.M.E. in 1953. He moved to New York City after graduation and embarked on a successful career as an architectural engineer. In 1963, Tsai won a John Hay Whitney Fellowship for Painting, after which he decided to leave engineering and devote himself full-time to the arts. In the following decade, Tsai created his seminal cybernetic works, which he continued to develop in myriad directions until his passing.