T脌PIES: Paintings, 1970鈥�2003
Nahmad Contemporary is pleased to announce 罢脿辫颈别蝉: Paintings, 1970鈥�2003, on view March 20 through April 22, 2017. Presenting a selection of major paintings by Antoni 罢脿辫颈别蝉 (1923鈥�2012) from the last four decades of his life, this exhibition is a comprehensive meditation on the postwar master, illuminating the many connections between his influential body of work and contemporary art history.
Born in 1923 in Barcelona, 罢脿辫颈别蝉 was a painter, sculptor, and writer whose artistic practice largely anticipated progressive postwar movements such as Arte Povera, neo-Dada, and Fluxus. He was a close friend of artist Joan Mir贸 and co-founded the surrealist group of Catalan artists and writers Dau al Set with poet Joan Brossa in 1948. Summoning the material emphasis of French Art Informel and the untamed gestures of American Abstract Expressionism, the dense surfaces of his work are both wide-ranging explorations of unorthodox materiality and metaphysical propositions regarding the 鈥渕atter鈥� of existence.
The exhibition reveals a pivotal period in the artist鈥檚 prolific career when his focus on materiality embraced a discernibly sculptural emphasis. Utilizing various base media鈥攊ncluding cardboard, household tapestry, wire, wood, and found objects鈥� 罢脿辫颈别蝉 formed rough, durable grounds on which to develop a language of raw monasticism informed by his Spanish-Catholic origins. Introducing a keen primitivism, these tactile works expound on the artist鈥檚 bipartite exploration of the modern condition: the use of religious symbols alludes to the artist鈥檚 profound philosophical concerns and the incorporation of low materials intimates his defiant volition to expand the limits of art. While emblematic of 罢脿辫颈别蝉鈥� allegiance to surrealist practices in assemblage and the use of found objects, the radical materiality of these paintings is his lasting contribution to contemporary art history.
Though the works eschew the slick formalism of minimalism or hard-edged abstraction, they are rooted in a unified simplicity inherent to the humble materials of their making. Surrealist techniques, such as grattage, are combined with scrawled impasto to form multilayered compositions that are in conversation with forebears such as Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso. Likewise, the alchemy of household materials and earthy substances that compose the surfaces summon contemporaries among the ranks of Alberto Burri and Jean Dubuffet. Consonant to those of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, the found objects in these works refigure the two-dimensional pictorial traditions.
Fundamentally influential, these paintings foreshadow the subsequent work of the neo-expressionists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel, as well as scores of contemporary artists whose material emphases elevate the offbeat and the provisional. By presenting the works created during this significant period of 罢脿辫颈别蝉鈥� career, the exhibition encourages a contemporary encounter with the artist鈥檚 work to unveil his influence on both the art of his time and that of today.
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Nahmad Contemporary is pleased to announce 罢脿辫颈别蝉: Paintings, 1970鈥�2003, on view March 20 through April 22, 2017. Presenting a selection of major paintings by Antoni 罢脿辫颈别蝉 (1923鈥�2012) from the last four decades of his life, this exhibition is a comprehensive meditation on the postwar master, illuminating the many connections between his influential body of work and contemporary art history.
Born in 1923 in Barcelona, 罢脿辫颈别蝉 was a painter, sculptor, and writer whose artistic practice largely anticipated progressive postwar movements such as Arte Povera, neo-Dada, and Fluxus. He was a close friend of artist Joan Mir贸 and co-founded the surrealist group of Catalan artists and writers Dau al Set with poet Joan Brossa in 1948. Summoning the material emphasis of French Art Informel and the untamed gestures of American Abstract Expressionism, the dense surfaces of his work are both wide-ranging explorations of unorthodox materiality and metaphysical propositions regarding the 鈥渕atter鈥� of existence.
The exhibition reveals a pivotal period in the artist鈥檚 prolific career when his focus on materiality embraced a discernibly sculptural emphasis. Utilizing various base media鈥攊ncluding cardboard, household tapestry, wire, wood, and found objects鈥� 罢脿辫颈别蝉 formed rough, durable grounds on which to develop a language of raw monasticism informed by his Spanish-Catholic origins. Introducing a keen primitivism, these tactile works expound on the artist鈥檚 bipartite exploration of the modern condition: the use of religious symbols alludes to the artist鈥檚 profound philosophical concerns and the incorporation of low materials intimates his defiant volition to expand the limits of art. While emblematic of 罢脿辫颈别蝉鈥� allegiance to surrealist practices in assemblage and the use of found objects, the radical materiality of these paintings is his lasting contribution to contemporary art history.
Though the works eschew the slick formalism of minimalism or hard-edged abstraction, they are rooted in a unified simplicity inherent to the humble materials of their making. Surrealist techniques, such as grattage, are combined with scrawled impasto to form multilayered compositions that are in conversation with forebears such as Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso. Likewise, the alchemy of household materials and earthy substances that compose the surfaces summon contemporaries among the ranks of Alberto Burri and Jean Dubuffet. Consonant to those of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, the found objects in these works refigure the two-dimensional pictorial traditions.
Fundamentally influential, these paintings foreshadow the subsequent work of the neo-expressionists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel, as well as scores of contemporary artists whose material emphases elevate the offbeat and the provisional. By presenting the works created during this significant period of 罢脿辫颈别蝉鈥� career, the exhibition encourages a contemporary encounter with the artist鈥檚 work to unveil his influence on both the art of his time and that of today.
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