11 Nov Torben Ulrich: Reception
Torben Ulrich
Artist Reception
Sunday, November 12th, 3-6PM
No RSVPs necessary
On Sunday, November 12th from 3-6PM, Torben Ulrich will be present at Gallery 30 South to engage patrons in one-on-one as well as group discussions about his painting, his motion theories, jazz, and his fascinating life. There is no RSVP necessary.
Torben Ulrich (born Oct. 4, 1928) has been called one the most colorful and unique voices in Danish culture of the 20th and 21st centuries, stemming from his lifelong activities as poet, musician, radio and newspaper journalist, painter, filmmaker, performer and athlete, all attempting to explore these fields within a transdisciplinary approach. This view has long been grounded in a process-oriented, wide-ranging study of movement in spiritual, philosophical and athletic traditions, accentuating the practical while including the historical aspects of alchemy, dance, yogic studies, Buddhism, Christian and Jewish Kabbalah, Sufism, Taoism, etc.
Torben’s work with ball, rope, racquet, and rice paper can be traced back to 1971, but stems from a tennis career spanning back to the late 1940s, when he was also a jazz musician and journalist, performing at CoBrA Happenings and writing hundreds of thousands of words about music and philosophy. This lifetime dedication to sport and music had a profound influence upon his son, Lars, who aspired to a professional tennis career before switching gears to co-found the band Metallica.
Ulrich explores play and the athletic event with the aforementioned materials as tools for creating artifacts of ongoing playfulness. In the most recent series Torben has begun with a poetic text, followed by a served or stroked net, then rope, then ball. The resultant images, termed Balligraphies, are keenly reminiscent of Japanese brush paintings, and are a captured continuation of the type of athletic studies documented by Jørgen Leth in his influential, experimental film, Motion Picture–which starred Torben Ulrich in 1969. In 1986 Torben received Denmark’s Gerlev Prize for athletico-cultural contributions, and he reteamed with Leth for the film Moments of Play. His catalog of writings, recordings, and awards is vast, and includes the ITF’s Davis Cup Award.
NO RSVP REQUIRED
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Matt Kennedy
Gallery Director
323 547 3227
info@gallery30south.com