While Michael Venezia never broke from his roots in Abstract Expressionism, this book explores his adaptation of expressionist practices--the significance of the accidental gesture, the poignancy of textured surfaces. Venezia's most recent work has used extremely long, narrow bars as his canvases; these vibrant pieces force a shift in perspective through a spatial manipulation of the viewer.
Düsseldorf-based artist Thomas Schütte (born 1954) is one of the most idiosyncratic of present-day artists, venturing to deploy techniques, genres and themes long thought passé--such as the sculpturally formed female figure--in permanent materials such as bronze, aluminum and steel. Schütte began his Frauen series toward the end of the 1990s and, while his first reclining nudes can be understood within the language of Classicism, his later, monumental figures with sawn-off limbs and various distortions--sometimes with bodies steamrolled flat or in tantalizing poses--resist all attempts at easy categorization. But Schütte’s brutal treatment of the female form is motivated less by a desire to shock than by a concern with the figure as a present-day testing ground for artistic expression, one that is frequently shot through with Schütte’s characteristic morbid humor. Frauen contains almost 200 color reproductions, along with texts by Andrea Bellini and Dieter Schwarz.
On Richter’s monumental, enigmatic installation in a Baroque church In this volume, the acclaimed German curator and author Dieter Schwarz (born 1953) chronicles in minute detail an impressive installation by Gerhard Richter (born 1932), from its genesis as a concept through various drafts to its completion. Foucault’s Pendulum , installed in the Baroque Dominican church in Münster, is made of a 105-pound reflective metal sphere hanging on a 94-foot wire above a graduated disk made of 380-million-year-old stone. Four panes of glass, enameled in grey on the back and reflective on the front, are mounted on the sides of the crossing in two pairs at a slight angle.The book presents Richter’s installation as a Gesamtkunstwerk in which space and light, stillness and movement, architecture and reflected images, past and present, aesthetic experience and scientific research are brought into relation with each other.
Robert Mangold ist einer der führenden amerikanischen Künstler unserer Zeit. Die Reihe “The X, Plus and Frame Paintings”, Malereien entstanden zwischen 1980 und 1986, war der Anfang Mangolds umfangreicher Experimentierfreudigkeit mit Rechtecken, Quadraten und Kreisen in satten Farben und dynamischen Kombinationen. Mangolds revolutionärer Ansatz und die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema Gestalt und Oberfläche war ausschlaggebend für sein künstlerisches Schaffen und seinen Erfolg.
If Richard Artschwager's laconic, concisely handcrafted works deny excessive verbalization (How much can you say about a black oval without worrying that the oval is laughing at you?), the artist's use of the written word to express his sculptural and pictorial ideas comes as a pleasant surprise. Artschwager has always jotted down indispensable notes and written articles for special occasions, taking up specific aspects of his work in a way that allows for a concentrated viewing of the art, as well as a glimpse into the artist. His sharp insight into and articulation of the prerequisites of his work and the philosophical questions touched on, plus his emphasis on art praxis, lend these texts an exemplary character.
These never before published or exhibited work books of artist Brice Marden (b. 1938) are here presented in lavish duotone and full-color reproductions, and offer vivid testimony to the workings of a major painter's imagination. In drawings, sketches, and studies, the intimate framework of the Work Books corresponds to the rigor and poetic intensity with which the artist reflects on the principles of autonomous abstract art. Taken as a totality, the drawings included in this book are an important artwork in their own right, and are crucial to any understanding of Marden's oeuvre.
Erscheinte anlässlich der Ausstellung im Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 7. September - 24. November 2013.
Vuillard, zusammen mit Bonnard, Vallotton, Denis und Roussel, war ein Gründungsvater der Nabis-Künstlergruppe und prägte deren Entwicklung maßgeblich. Die Ausstellung im Kunstmuseum Winterthur konzentriert sich auf die Jahre 1893-1910, in denen Vuillards Bildauffassung klarer wurde und der Austausch mit Vallotton intensiv war. Sechs Themenkreise und Entwicklungsstufen werden präsentiert: Zunächst die atmosphärischen Intérieurs mit seiner Mutter und Schwester aus den 1890er Jahren, gefolgt von Familienszenen der Jahrhundertwende, in denen seine Nichte Annette im Mittelpunkt steht. Nach 1900 entdeckte Vuillard den Akt als neues Thema, das auch bei Bonnard und Vallotton zu finden ist, was einen Vergleich der unterschiedlichen Ausdrucksweisen ermöglicht. In dieser Zeit malte er auch seine ersten Landschaften, zunächst in der Umgebung von Paris und später am Genfer See bei Vallotton. Die Ausstellung zeigt auch seine bretonischen Bilder von 1908/09, die eine neue Malweise in größerem Format präsentieren. Die Serie der Intérieurs mit seiner Mutter, die von 1898 bis 1910 reicht, verdeutlicht den Wandel in Vuillards Bildauffassung. Der Katalog schließt eine Lücke in der Kunstliteratur zur klassischen Moderne und enthält bislang unveröffentlichte Korrespondenz mit Vallotton, ergänzt durch 140 farbige Abbildungen.
