The exhibition, promoted by Fondazione Ragghianti, with the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and the partnership of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, consists of a selection of more than sixty works paintings and drawings by the artist dedicated to the bitter and interminable conflict between tyranny and democracy that has affected Burma for over half a century. Rather than limiting himself to the simple account of the tragedies that characterize the country’s recent history, since his first works Sawang has represented the disasters of war through symbolic images, taking inspiration from Goya.
The biography of the artist, born in the area controlled by the rebels in the Burmese state of Shan, is intertwined with the dramas contained in his works. His grandfather was the first president of Burma after the end of English colonialism, and was killed in a military coup. Following the attack, his father and grandmother founded a resistance movement. Sawang has spent his entire life in political exile, from Thailand to Canada to the Netherlands, where he currently lives.
The art of Sawang, active on the international scene, therefore becomes a witness to the suffering of oppressed peoples, and this exhibition collects some examples of extraordinary power, in which the author manages to shape the profound historical essence of the Burmese drama in figurative language: on the one hand the peaceful battle of the Buddhist monks, who protest against the dictatorship only by raising their hands in prayer, and on the other the violence of the military junta.
In addition to the artist’s works inspired by the political history of his country of origin, the exhibition dedicates a space to a cycle of works in which Sawang reflects on important themes of modern European painting, confronting the cultural tradition of our continent from a spatially distant but intensely felt, which adds intensity to his work. In fact, a part of the exhibition hosts a selection of works that explore the transition from figuration to abstractionism, drawing inspiration from Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu by Honoré de Balzac, which, recounting the impossible search for the absolute masterpiece, analyzes the relationship between representation and reality. Finally, the exhibition includes some works that reflect the great conflict between art and life, which was described by Émile Zola in L’Œuvre in 1886.
Lucca, a city-symbol of a centuries-old struggle for its freedom, appears to be an ideal place to host this exhibition, which confirms a continuous commitment to promoting artists and themes worthy of further study, offering the public a stimulating and significant cultural experience.