This week we’re focusing on two solo exhibitions that illustrate the development of a featured artist. In London, Timothy Taylor Gallery presents an exhibition by the late Antoni Tàpies (Spanish, 1923–2011). The 11 paintings on view, all created from 1992 to 2009, give light to the Catalan artist’s continued investigation into natural material and language. Tàpies explored ideas of the sublime and the metaphysical, using raw materials like sand and earth as a symbol for decay and a connection to physical reality.

In some of Tàpies’s most striking works, rough textures and text serve as visual reminders of the artist’s interest in language. The symbol “t” appears frequently in Tàpies’s paintings, taking on multiple meanings; this symbol sometimes serves as an image of the cross or the artist’s initial. In Ona-Mar (Sea Wave) (2000), we find a double headed arrow placed on a swelling wave, and a sketched cross and rough text in the upper right corner. These features stress the artist’s continued study of symbols, and perhaps allude to later themes of political unrest, serving as a visual reminder of the graffiti on the streets of Barcelona.

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Antoni Tàpies will be on view from March 7 to April 13, 2013, at 15 Carlos Place, London, UK.

Antoni Tapies, Ona-mar, 2000, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK

At the New York location of the Contemporary Chinese gallery Chambers Fine Art, Taca Sui reveals Odes, the final product of his three-year photographic study. Inspired by the Book of Odes (Shi jing), Taca journeys through this collection of poems, which dates back to the Bronze Age. When visiting sites mentioned in the text, the artist became a part of the suggested discovery; he participated in the process rather than making his own mark on the Book’s sites and imagery. In Taca’s photographic works, we find scenes of nature, mountains, and rivers, along with some studied details. The series as a whole, which documents his personal journey, gives insight to the Book of Odes in a broad sense, aligning physical form and artistic structure to its mystical principles, but never seeking to define the Book’s teachings.

Taca Sui: Odes will be on view from March 7 to April 19, 2013, at 522 W. 19th Street, New York, NY.

Taca Sui, Odes of Zhou Nan and Shao Nan II, 2011, Chambers Fine Art, New York, NY

Browse openings by city to see where art can be found in your town!

Englewood, NJ
Justin Fontaine Maury: Bad Girls go to Hell at Borghi Fine Art
March 7, 2013
2 E. Palisade Avenue, Englewood, NJ 07631

Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Ingo Meller: Darben und Schwelgen at Bernhard Knaus Fine Art
March 7–May 11, 2013
Niddastrasse 84, D–60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Hong Kong, China
Boundaries, Lalla Essaydi at Amelia Johnson Contemporary
March 7–April 6, 2013
g/f 6–10 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong, China

London, UK
Maliheh Afnan, Speak Memory at Rose Issa Projects
March 7–April 18, 2013
82 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 7NW United Kingdom

Munich, Germany
Conrad Shawcross: New Bild Aesthetics (Galerie Klüser 2) at Galerie Klüser
March 7–May 11, 2013
Georgenstr. 15, 80799 Munich, Germany

New York, NY
Time and Space on the Lower East Side: 1980 + 2010 at Dillon Gallery
March 7–April 9, 2013
555 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001

Mary Lucier: New Installation Works at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc.
March 7–April 20, 2013
514 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001

CUBART: Contemporary Cuban Art at Pan American Art Projects
March 7–30, 2013
109 Norfolk Street, New York, NY, 10002

William Cordova – yawar mallku: temporal landscapes at Sikkema Jenkins & Co
March 7–April 6, 2013
530 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011

Paris, France
LIU BOLIN at Galerie Paris-Beijing
March 7–May 11, 2013
54, rue du Vertbois, Métro Arts et Métiers, 75003 Paris, France

Portland, OR
March Artists of the Month: Judith Cunningham, Barbara Benedetti Newton and Susan Ogilvie at Attic Gallery
March 7–30, 2013
206 SW First Avenue, Portland, OR 97204

San Francisco, CA
Teo González: Recent Paintings at Brian Gross Fine Art
March 7–April 20, 2013
49 Geary Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108

Day of Dreams and Visions: Recent Paintings by Bobbie Burgers at Caldwell Snyder Gallery
March 7–31, 2013
341 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Naomie Kremer; Retrospective at Modernism Inc.
March 7–April 20, 2013
685 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Zurich, Switzerland
Rinko Kawauchi: Illuminance at Christophe Guye Galerie
March 7–June 1, 2013
Dufourstrasse 31, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland

OLIVIER MOSSET: Circles and Stripes (Zurich) at Galerie Andrea Caratsch
March 7–May 17, 2013
Waldmannstrasse 8, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland

Temperamente auf Papier II (Zürich) at Häusler Contemporary
March 7–May 25, 2013
Stampfenbachstraße 59, Zurich, Switzerland