Modern Ancient
80 new paintings & 3 poems
by Shizico Yi
Modern Ancient
Shizico Yi,UK. 2025
Travelled in London underground,
packed between crowds, scents and sound,
between adverts and leftover rain on old memories.
An ancient soul in modern time
sculpts ancient colours in modern forms,
sings ancient notes in modern songs;
an ancient woman trips in a modern world.
Oh my artists, my heroes, lover and dog,
you died, but your art cut through time;
lives beyond cultures, languages, beyond borderlines.
Let me paint thee, your colours,
shower me with ancient whispers.
Oh-marry me, take my life.
With these canvases I signed my decree:
to love, to kindness,
to ugly truths and the eternal beauty.
Shizico Yi,UK. 2025
Travelled in London underground,
packed between crowds, scents and sound,
between adverts and leftover rain on old memories.
An ancient soul in modern time
sculpts ancient colours in modern forms,
sings ancient notes in modern songs;
an ancient woman trips in a modern world.
Oh my artists, my heroes, lover and dog,
you died, but your art cut through time;
lives beyond cultures, languages, beyond borderlines.
Let me paint thee, your colours,
shower me with ancient whispers.
Oh-marry me, take my life.
With these canvases I signed my decree:
to love, to kindness,
to ugly truths and the eternal beauty.
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Modern Ancient is a solo exhibition composed in Five movements — a work that unfolds beyond the conventional format of an exhibition. Through this curatorial project, Shizu weaves textures, colours, forms, and styles into visual musical notes on humanity, beauty, grief, aging, and the essence of being human.
Over the past twelve months, Shizico has developed branches of projects, each serving as a movement — a form or style akin to a passage in a classical music composition to bring this solo exhibition to live. Shizu references each series of artwork on the history of arts, ranging from Japanese Woodblock print, golden joinery Kintsugi 金継ぎ, to Impressionism, from Monet, Van Gogh to Matisse. Together, these projects situate the collection within a broader cultural and historical backdrop, tracing its lineage to the great artists who came before, those who paved the way for us. With this foundation, Modern Ancient embraces a new sense of modern-day freedom — Shizu takes this concept as an invitation to explore how the ancient and the contemporary coexist, converse, and ultimately, she continues to reinvent and gives birth to new works. ---GSY x 1stDibs, Curatorial Team, led by Grace B. Black. 2025 |
1st Movement
2nd Movement |
3rd Movement
4th movement |
5th Movement
in the rooms |
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