Sunset at Pacific Vortex

On 22 February Ivorypress presents the first solo exhibition of Chinese artist Michael Chow (Shanghai, 1939) at the gallery.

Several years ago, amorphous accumulations of discarded plastic began to appear in Michael Chow’s paintings. These unruly shapes that seem to have a life of their own are the artist’s representation of the Pacific Vortex. For this exhibition he has harnessed the vocabulary of abstract painting to confront one of the world’s most pressing ecological problems.

The Pacific Vortex, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it is more harshly described, is an immense mass of discarded plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that covers a vast area of the North Pacific Ocean. It is not visible from satellite photography, so the representation of its form is left to the painter’s imagination. Chow has fused Asian, European, and American approaches to abstract painting to create a resonant image of our environmental crisis.

Images: © Pablo Gómez-Ogando. Courtesy Ivorypress