JAMES LEE BYARS

Born in Detroit in 1932, Byars was always fascinated by Japanese culture, which exerted a deep influence on his artistic practice throughout his life. He lived and worked nomadically, moving between different places and cities, including Detroit, Kyoto, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Bern, Venice, and Cairo.

Throughout his oeuvre, Byars combined motifs and symbols from Eastern traditions and civilisations, such as elements of Nô theatre and Zen Buddhism, with a deep knowledge of Western art and philosophy, offering a unique personal view on reality and its physical and spiritual entities. Making use of different media, like installation, sculpture, performance, drawing, and speech, the artist created a mystical-aesthetic reflection on the ideas of perfection and cyclicity, and on the human figure—its representation and dematerialization—often involving visitors directly in temporary actions or large-scale interventions.

Text courtesy Pirelli HangarBicocca