His twisty neon installations and glittering towers of light are frequently shown in some of the world’s most exclusive galleries in New York, Mexico City, Tokyo and Shanghai.
For his first major solo show in his home country of Wales, Cerith Wyn Evans’ work is on display in the traditional surroundings of a gallery built in Edwardian times in the resort of Llandudno, best known for its old-fashioned pier and seafront – and the bold goats that descended on the town during the first lockdown.
Wyn Evans, a winner of the prestigious Hepworth prize for sculpture, said he was delighted to be exhibiting on home soil.
“My spiritual and emotional ties are here,” he told the Guardian as his exhibition opened at Mostyn. “But for one reason and another I’ve lived elsewhere for the majority of my life. I left Wales when I was 18 and I’m now 64.”
Wyn Evans said he was particularly pleased that his exhibition was being shown at Mostyn. In its early days, the original Mostyn Art Gallery, with its bright terracotta facade, housed works by the Gwynedd Ladies’ Art Society, who were denied membership of male-dominated local art societies on the basis of their gender. In recent years, it has been rebranded and revamped as a centre of contemporary art. “I’ve always wanted to exhibit at Mostyn,” said Wyn Evans.
He has enjoyed staying in a hotel in the seaside town during the lengthy and complicated installation. “Llandudno is a very special place, it has a singular character, a strange imaginary sort of seafront that goes on forever and it rains all the time. It’s a small town on the periphery.”
Wyn Evans is happy that a major show is launching at all after exhibitions across the world were cancelled or impossible to travel to during the pandemic. “It’s a relief and joy to be here.”
Born in Llanelli, south Wales, Wyn Evans is billed as the most widely established and internationally recognised Welsh artist working today. He began his career as a filmmaker, producing short, experimental works. The show, which takes over all six spaces in the gallery, includes intricate neon sculptures, seven-metre-high light columns and transparent glass panes, as well as a new film that will be changed and updated across the course of the exhibition.
Alfredo Cramerotti, the director of Mostyn, said: “You really have to let yourself go and immerse yourself. It’s about perception of sound, light, moving images, still images, of the air moving, of vibration, a landscape of elements impacting on you and you impact them as you move. It’s a two-way experience, it’s about how you approach the space and interact with them.”
Wyn Evans accepts that his work can be considered esoteric. The title of this show itself may take some working out. ....)( is its name.
His people say it is “open to different forms of interpretation” and Wyn Evans said he was glad the gallery was not trying to dumb things down. “Thinking that nobody will understand it is the wrong way to look at it,” he said.
“My work has always been thought of as difficult and impenetrable. So be it, I make no apologies for that.”
The exhibition runs until 5 February 2023.
