VILLAZAN is pleased to present "SHADOWS OF REPETITION: A Collective Exploration of Minimalism, Reflection, and Pattern”. The exhibition is open to the public from March 6 to May 10, 2025, at VILLAZAN Madrid and VILLAZAN Project Space.  

Repetition is never mere duplication, it is transformation. In "SHADOWS OF REPETITION", three distinct voices: Soonik Kwon, Yayoi Kusama, and Carlos García intertwine through a shared fascination with iteration, reflection, and the tension between presence and absence.

Kusama’s infinite polka dots dissolve the boundaries between self and environment, evoking both obsessive control and limitless expansion. Her mirrored surfaces extend this repetition into infinity, blurring the line between reality and illusion. Carlos García’s geometric sculptures, particularly from his Geometry of Thought series, introduce another form of repetition, one rooted in structure, order, and the interplay between light and shadow. His forms echo the legacy of minimalism while introducing a dynamic sense of movement and instability. Meanwhile, Soonik’s work engages with repetition through subtle shifts in form, material, and perception, inviting the viewer to consider the ephemeral and the enduring within seriality.

The exhibition draws from minimalist and conceptual traditions, where repetition is not an end in itself but a means of exploring deeper questions: When does a pattern become a rhythm? When does reflection become dissolution? Inspired by thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, who saw repetition as a force of difference rather than sameness, and artists like Donald Judd and Agnes Martin, who used seriality to evoke transcendence, "SHADOWS OF REPETITION" invites us to see beyond uniformity into the spaces where shadows flicker, forms shift, and meaning emerges.

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Soonik Kwon: Repetition as a Path to Enlightenment.

For Soonik, repetition is more than a compositional device. It is a spiritual practice. Deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy, his works transform iterative patterns into a form of meditation, mirroring the cyclic nature of existence. The meticulous repetition in his paintings and installations does not seek rigid uniformity but rather an organic, almost imperceptible variation, akin to the natural rhythms of breath or the silent progression of a mantra.

In Buddhist thought, Samsara, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, is a form of infinite repetition, but within it lies the possibility of awakening, the moment when the repeated pattern is no longer a loop but a path toward transcendence. Soonik’s works embody this principle, inviting the viewer to engage in a contemplative process. His layered compositions, whether in painting, textile, or immersive environments, function like visual koans, enigmatic puzzles designed not to be solved but to be experienced.

The delicate shifts within his repeated elements evoke the paradox of impermanence within continuity. No two brushstrokes are identical, no two patterns remain unchanged. Like Buddhist mandalas, which are meticulously created and then destroyed to symbolize the fleeting nature of reality, his art suggests that repetition is not stasis but transformation.

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Yayoi Kusama: Infinity as Obsession and Liberation

For Yayoi Kusama, repetition is both an act of control and an avenue for release. Her polka dots, mirrored rooms, and immersive environments are manifestations of an inner compulsion, a way to dissolve the boundaries between self and universe. Kusama has often spoken of her hallucinatory experiences, where she perceives the world as an endless expanse of repeated forms. Through her art, she externalizes these visions, making the infinite tangible.

Her Infinity Mirror Rooms challenge the viewer’s perception of space and self. Within these chambers, the repeated lights, dots, and reflections create a sense of limitless expansion, echoing Nietzsche’s eternal return, a universe where everything recurs infinitely, forcing one to confront their own presence in an unending cycle. However, for Kusama, infinity is not just a philosophical concept but an emotional reality, oscillating between obliteration and transcendence.

Her compulsive repetition of patterns reflects both an attempt to control her inner chaos and a surrender to it. Kusama has described her work as a way to self obliterate, dissolving into the rhythm of her endless motifs. Paradoxically, in this obliteration, there is also an emergence, a defiance of boundaries, an insistence on presence. Her work exists at the edge of contradiction, obsessive yet liberating, intimate yet cosmic, repetitive yet infinitely varied.

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Carlos García: The Geometry of Thought

Carlos García approaches repetition from a structural and philosophical standpoint, treating geometric abstraction not just as a visual language but as a cognitive process. His Geometry of Thought series explores the intersection of repetition, spatial perception, and the phenomenology of light and shadow.

In García’s sculptures, repetition becomes a tool to reveal the unseen. His forms, at times rigid and at times fluid, shift with the movement of the observer, creating a dialogue between solidity and void. The works resonate with the ideas of Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, where the act of repeating a form is not merely decorative but a way of investigating space, material, and perception. However, García adds a crucial element, a sense of organic fluidity that breaks from pure minimalism, introducing an almost architectural rhythm that changes depending on the angle, the light, and the distance from which it is viewed.

His interest in mathematical precision aligns with theories of sacred geometry, where repetition is not arbitrary but a manifestation of fundamental principles underlying nature and thought itself. Each iteration within his sculptures suggests a new possibility, a different perception, much like how thought itself unfolds, not in linear progression but in layered, recursive patterns.

By engaging with shadow as an active element, García’s work turns repetition into something dynamic, shifting, and alive. The play between light and solid form creates a tension that underscores the fragility of permanence. Nothing is ever truly fixed, and no pattern is ever entirely stable.

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Final Reflection: Beyond Repetition

While each of these artists engages with repetition in distinct ways, Soonik through Buddhist meditation, Kusama through obsessive infinity, and García through geometric thought, they all reveal that repetition is never neutral. It is a force that can be grounding or destabilizing, meditative or overwhelming, structural or fluid.

In "SHADOWS OF REPETITION", these perspectives intertwine, prompting the question. Is repetition a prison or a path? Through their works, we glimpse the tension between recurrence and change, between pattern and deviation, between shadow and light.

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