IS IS

James Lee Byars (1932 - 1997)

mima, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

1994

This work can be traced back right to the beginning of the American artist Byars's career living and working in Japan. There he made many simple ink drawings on Japanese paper mostly composed of a simple line, indicating movement, time and grace. Byars developed his affinity for the notions of perfection, question and ceremony that would become the hallmarks of his life and work, fuelling the artist's ongoing explorations of the transient nature of beauty. An important legacy of this time in Japan is the artist's deep appreciation for the inherent beauty of materials, including paper, fabric, stone and gold, materials the artist deployed in his wide-ranging oeuvre throughout his career. This work was purchased under the Art Fund International scheme.

• Medium: ink on gold paper
• Dimensions: diameter: 35.5cm
• Art Fund Grant: £16450 ( Total: £16,450)
• ArtFunded in: 2010
• Vendor: Michael Werner Gallery

Provenance

Michael Werner Gallery, New York.

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