Olafur Eliasson @ MOCA, Los Angeles - "OPEN" Exhibition

Olafur Eliasson: OPEN

MOCA, Los Angeles

September 15, 2024 – July 6, 2025

OLAFUR ELIASSON

Kaleidoscope for plural perspectives, 2024 

Installation view: Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin 

Photo: Henri Lacoste | Studio Olafur Eliasson 

Courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 

New York/Los Angeles; neugerriemschneider, Berlin

© 2024 Olafur Eliasson

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) presents Olafur Eliasson: OPEN at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The first major solo exhibition of the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967, Copenhagen; lives and works in Berlin) in Los Angeles. Continuing Eliasson’s career-long exploration of light and color, geometry, and environmental awareness, Olafur Eliasson: OPEN presents a series of site-specific installations responding to MOCA Geffen’s building and the atmospheric conditions of Los Angeles.

Olafur Eliasson: OPEN features over a dozen works commissioned for MOCA, along with a selection of recent works organized around the artist’sresearch on perception, optical devices, physics and natural phenomena, navigational instruments, and color experimentation. Olafur Eliasson draws attention to the relativity of our perception and challenges habitual ways of seeing and experiencing the world. The exhibition is informed by the artist’s belief in the potential of inconclusiveness—the idea that every artwork contains an aspect that is radically open.

“Olafur Eliasson’s work is an invitation to explore, reconsider, and co-produce our relationship with the world around us,” said Johanna Burton, The Maurice Marciano Director. “His innovative use of light, color, and space transforms the familiar into the ephemerally extraordinary, encouraging a deeper engagement with the environment and our perceptions of it. This exhibition is a natural extension of MOCA’s commitment to environmental programming, as seen in our ongoing presentations and initiatives focused on climate change and sustainability.”

“In this ambitious project, Eliasson taps into the legacies of artists intimately tied to Los Angeles and MOCA’s rich history of experimentation and innovation," said José Luis Blondet. "From Michael Asher’s site-specific interventions, to Maria Nordman’s exploration of space and time, to Robert Irwin’s perceptual experiments with light and space and James Turrell’s pioneering work in the use of light as a medium.”

“Eliasson is an artist of singular vision who combines scientific levels of precision with a poetic sensibility about the metaphysics of perception,” says co-curator Rebecca Lowery. “His deep engagement with the specific architectural setting of The Geffen Contemporary will animate this beloved building in new ways for first-time and long-time visitors alike.”

OPEN is conceived as a number of fluid experiences staged in the vast industrial spaces of The Geffen Contemporary. The exhibition’s central gallery becomes a point of departure and return, welcoming visitors to meander throughout the museum as they interact with various optical devices that refract and reframe the building and its environments. OPEN offers unique explorations of light, perception, and interaction with the environment.

OLAFUR ELIASSON

The works of artist Olafur Eliasson (Icelandic-Danish, b. 1967) explore the relevance of art in the world at large. Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows—featuring installations, paintings, sculptures, photography, and film—have appeared in major museums around the globe. In 2003, he represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale and later that year installed The weather project in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, London. Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, a survey exhibition organized by SFMOMA, traveled from 2007 until 2010 to various venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2018, the site-specific installation Reality projector transformed the Marciano Foundation in Los Angeles. Exhibitions in 2024 include Senin beklenmeidk karşılaman (Your unexpected encounter) at Istanbul Modern and Your curious journey, at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and travel to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia; and conclude at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, the Philippines.

Eliasson’s projects in public spaces include The New York City Waterfalls, 2008; Fjordenhus, Vejle, Denmark, 2018; Ice Watch, 2014; Seeing spheres, 2019, in San Francisco; and Atmospheric wave wall, 2020, in Chicago. Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre, 2011, for which Olafur Eliasson created the facades in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects, won the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2013.

In 2012, Olafur Eliasson started the social business Little Sun, and in 2014, he and Sebastian Behmann founded Studio Other Spaces, an office for art and architecture. In 2019, Eliasson was named UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for climate action. In 2023, he received the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese imperial family for outstanding contributions to the development, promotion, and progress of the arts.

Located in Berlin, Studio Olafur Eliasson comprises a large team of crafts people, architects, archivists, researchers, administrators, cooks, art historians, and specialized technicians.

www.olafureliasson.net

Olafur Eliasson: OPEN is part of the landmark Getty initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide and is organized by José Luis Blondet, Senior Curator, and Rebecca Lowery, Associate Curator, with Emilia Nicholson-Fajardo, Curatorial Assistant, and Anastasia Kahn, former Curatorial Assistant. 

Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCA

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012

www.moca.org

Catherine Opie @ MOCA, Los Angeles

Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road
MOCA - The Museum of Comtemporary Art, Los Angeles
January 23 - May 8, 2016

CATHERINE OPIE 

Andy Warhol to Elizabeth (Self-Portrait Artist) from the 700 Nimes Road Portfolio, 2010-2011, 

Pigment print, 16 ½ x 22 in. (40.6 x 55.9 cm)

© Catherine Opie, Courtesy of Regen Projects, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin, New York & Hong Kong

Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road presents new and recent work by Los Angeles–based artist Catherine Opie (born 1961, Sandusky, Ohio), an essential figure in contemporary photography. Taken over the course of six months at the Bel-Air, California, residence of the late actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011), the exhibition’s photographs are drawn from two series: Closets and Jewels, and 700 Nimes Road. Inspired by William Eggleston’s images of Elvis Presley’s Memphis estate, Graceland, Catherine Opie creates a portrait of Taylor from her personal space and mementos. The artist photographs rooms, closets, shoes, clothing, and jewelry that depict an indirect, yet deeply intimate, portrait of a life defined by wealth and fame. With an investigative eye, Catherine Opie documents the grandeur and minute details of the home in a range of visual scales. Scrutiny tempered with restraint allows objects to accumulate, rooms to become landscapes, and clothing to be transformed into fields of color and be specifically designated or precisely described. In the artist’s words, the project is not about the relationship to celebrity but about “the relationship to what is human.”​

MOCA Director Philippe Vergne said, “The way Cathy looks at the world, the city, the citizens, who ever they are, who ever they love, whatever they do, constitutes us as a community. It is an honor to show her work.”

Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road is organized by MOCA Chief Curator Helen Molesworth.

Major support is provided by J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

MOCA Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069
www.moca.org

Gu Changwei at MoCA Shanghai - “ i ” Contemporary Art of GU Changwei

“ i ” Contemporary Art of GU Changwei
Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai
December 13, 2014 - March 31, 2015 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai presents an exhibition of works by Gu Changwei.

One of China’s most famous film directors today, Gu Changwei began studying art in his pre-college days. In 1978 he was enrolled into the Cinematography Department of Beijing Film Academy as his entry to the movie industry. His practice and exploration of contemporary art, however, has so far remained largely unknown to the public. In this sense, “ i ” Contemporary Art of Gu Changwei is a presentation of his art works after years of silent accumulation.

In this exhibition, the artist used different media including video, two dimensional pieces, and installation. All the works are closely linked to our day-to-day lives and yet they have represented an unexpected and extraordinary splendor. In front of these works, we question on ourselves and derive all kinds of solutions, which also hide behind the artist's interpretation of the contemporary social values, and thinking of the current physical existence.

This solo exhibition is not intended as a summary or extension of Gu Changwei’s achievements as an artist. Rather, it marks a beginning with a unique perspective, a sober-minded meditation expressed with passion. Here and now, we will see an old friend of ours opening up his brave new world of “ i ” to us.

To explain his motivation in creating these works, Gu Changwei quotes from Marcel Duchamp: “Art is not about itself but about the attention we bring to it.”

The curator of this exhibition, Kong Chang’an was among the curators and organizers of the China/Avant Garde ‘89. In the early 1990s, as an eminent art critic, he introduced China’s contemporary art to the West through Flash Art, a world-famous art magazine. Besides, he is the first Chinese curator to work for the 45th Venice Biennale in “Aperto” in 1993. In recent years, Kong has been more involved in research and practice on visual/video art in the United States.

“ i ” Contemporary Art of Gu Changwei at the MoCA Shanghai is a display of contemporary art based on the trans-disciplinary cooperation between a celebrated film director and a senior curator and on an intellectual dialogue by means of visual/video art. For China’s art circles, it will be the year’s finale notable for its flickering novelty.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai 

Curator: KONG Chang’an

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, SHANGHAI
People's Park, 231 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai
www.mocashanghai.org

Updated 30.06.2019

Bijoux Cadoro - Costume Jewellery - Vente à Drouot par PBA

Ensemble de Bijoux Cadoro
Un des symboles marquants de la Costume Jewellery
des années 60-70 aux Etats-Unis
Vente Mercredi 10 Novembre 2010 à Paris

Par Pierre Bergé et associés, Paris

Couverture du catalogue de la vente - Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

Les bijoux Cadoro, en unisson avec l’industrie de la COSTUME JEWELLERY aux Etats-Unis, ont révolutionné l’art du bijoux dans les années 1960 et 1970. La nouveauté vient d'un duo de designers, DANIEL STOENESCU et STEVEN BRODY, co-fondateurs de la célèbre marque établie sur la cinquième avenue, depuis 1954. Etranges destins de ce fils de prince roumain, et de cet acteur et chanteur de Broadway, qui se rencontrèrent à Paris, pour breveter des contrats dans l’industrie du plastique avant de s’en retourner à New-York, créer une marque de bijoux. Celle-ci puisa son inspiration dans toutes les cultures, conférant un caractère ethnique à ses créations d’une indéniable originalité. Des regards croisés sur la Grèce antique, l’Egypte pharaonique ou l’Afrique noire sont à l’origine de bijoux spectaculaires, souvent de grandes dimensions comme ces pectoral ou ces colliers interminables enlaçant le corps comme une liane.

En 1970, Stoenescu et Brody conçoivent une collection inspirée des indiens Hopi d’Amérique du Nord qui remporte le prestigieux Coty American Fashion Critic’s Awards (Special Awards). Ce Prix récompense la maison Cadoro pour la qualité de ses fabrications, en particulier ses finitions à l’or fin, ainsi que sa grande inventivité créative, qui séduisait les stars américaines, mais aussi européennes.

Ainsi, en 1969, la jeune Brigitte Bardot enflamme le port de Saint-Tropez avec un inoubliable soutien-gorge en plaques de métal doré. C'est l’un des lots phares de la vente, estimé 150/250 EUR.

 

CADORO. ORNEMENT de corsage en forme de soutien-gorge en métal doré à motifs ajourés d’inspiration orientale. Tour de cou : L 75 cm - Tour de buste : 91 cm – Lot 32 – Estimation : 150 / 200 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio. 

 

Valentino et Nina Ricci commandèrent des éditions spéciales au plus fort de leur succès dans les années 1960. Leurs bijoux firent les couvertures des magazines et habillèrent les plus belles mannequins de l‘époque : Brigitte Bauer, en 1965, pour Vogue ou Samantha Jones, en 1969, pour Harper’s Baazar. Cette année-là, la reconnaissance fut totale, les bijoux Cadoro furent sélectionnés pour participer à la fameuse exposition Design in the 60’s, organisée par le Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) de New York qui procéda, à cette occasion, à plusieurs acquisitions importantes, suivi dans ce choix avant-gardiste par le Costume Institute du Metropolitan Museum de New York.

 

 CADORO. COLLIER d’inspiration africaine orné de trois rangs de boules de bois et d’éléments en métal doré satiné. L 39 cm – Lot 25 - Estimation : 150 / 250 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

CADORO. COLLIER maille serpent en métal argenté. En pendentif un disque en résine imitant la corne est retenu au collier par cinq gros anneaux. L 45 cm. Pendentif : H 18 cm – Lot 30 - Estimation : 200 / 300 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

CADORO SAUTOIR d’inspiration africaine orné de boules de bois teintées noir et d’éléments en métal doré. L 72 cm – Lot 45 - Estimation : 250 / 300 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

CADORO. BRACELET articulé composé de deux motifs ovales en forme de boucle stylisée en métal doré granité. L 17,5 cm – Lot 46 - Estimation : 70 / 100 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

CADORO. COLLIER d’inspiration égyptienne composé d’éléments articulés en métal doré ajouré rehaussés de cabochons de verre bleu imitant le lapis lazuli et de strass. L 31 cm – Lot 50 - Estimation : 200 / 300 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

CADORO. COLLIER d’huissier en métal doré à maillons fantaisie entrecoupés de deux motifs oiseaux. Il retient un pendentif éléphant. L 63 cm – Lot 70 - Estimation : 150 / 200 EUR – Photo courtesy PBA © Pierre Bergé & associés // © photographies Philippe Sebert et Art Digital Studio.

 

Les années 1970 sont marquées par l’apport de nouvelles énergies avec l’arrivée du créateur français Jean-François Herbert en 1971, rejoint par Max Wayne Frescoln, en 1976, l’année même du décès du fondateur Daniel Stoenescu. La maison continua ses créations jusqu’en 1987, concluant ainsi trois décennies consacrées à l'art du bijoux.

La vente organisée par Pierre Bergé & associés le Mercredi 10 Novembre prochain, à Drouot, se veut une sorte d'hommage à cette épopée américaine qui consacra la renaissance du Costume Jewelery, en associant audace et humour avec un grand raffinement.

 

VENTE Le Mercredi 10 novembre à 14 heures 30
80 lots de bijoux présentés en début de vente estimés entre 50 et 300 euros

DROUOT RICHELIEU - Salle 3
9 rue Drouot 75009 Paris

EXPOSITION PUBLIQUE de la totalité des 450 lots de bijoux mis en vente
Mardi 9 Novembre de 11 heures à 18 heures
et Mercredi 10 Novembre de 11heures à 12 heures

Expert : Jean-Norbert Salit, Expert-Joaillier, Membre du Syndicat français des experts professionnels en œuvres d’art

CATALOGUE consultable sur : www.pba-auctions.com

The Artist’s Museum Exhibition at MOCA, Los Angeles

The Artist’s Museum 
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) 
October 31, 2010 - January 31, 2011

Artist PAE WHITE designed the graphic identity for the exhibition 

© Pae White, Courtesy of the MOCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), presents a showcase of works by over 140 artists who have helped shape the artistic dialogue in Los Angeles since the founding of MOCA over 30 years ago. The Artist’s Museum opened on September 19, 2010, at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA; and will open on October 31, 2010, at MOCA Grand Avenue. This exhibition represent the diversity and uniqueness of the Los Angeles community, and highlight important works from legendary L.A. artists who remain vital and influential alongside those emerging from renowned local art schools, visionary artists associated with various street cultures and subcultures, and crossover artists connected to performance, music, and film. This special presentation draw from MOCA’s permanent collection, supplemented by key loans from local collectors and artists, featuring over 250 works, including a number of new projects made especially for this occasion. 

“Los Angeles is an incredibly hospitable city for artists to live and make their work in, and, as a result, this city is rich with the most innovative, talented, and groundbreaking artists of our time,” said MOCA Associate Curator Rebecca Morse. 

The three decades represented within The Artist’s Museum touch on several generations of artists whose careers parallel and intersect with MOCA’s own development as a major contemporary art institution. The exhibition underlines the museum’s important role in shaping and supporting the artistic landscape of Los Angeles while looking beyond the museum’s own history to embrace artists who have helped transform the city into an internationally recognized center for artists from all over the world. It is possible to trace lines of influence and association within the exhibition, as it encompasses a range of relationships—from teachers and students, to mentors, friends, and collaborators.

“The Artist’s Museum pays tribute to the breadth of immense talent in this city, tracing an evolution possible only in Los Angeles, where there is such an active intersection of disciplines,” commented MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch. 

Based on a nickname that has been used to describe MOCA from its inception, The Artist’s Museum also honors artists’ ongoing involvement with MOCA, which was founded in 1979 on the premise that it should exist for the benefit of contemporary artists. During the late 1970s, a group of 150 artists came together to discuss the creation of a new museum dedicated to contemporary art in Los Angeles. As a result, an Artist’s Advisory Council of 15 members was formed to make recommendations on all of the issues associated with building a museum. As part of the exhibition, two galleries will feature works by artists on the Advisory Council, including Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander, Karen Carson, Vija Celmins, Guy Dill, Fred Eversley, Sam Francis, Robert Heinecken, Robert Irwin, Gary Lloyd, Peter Lodato, Joe Ray, Roland Reiss, Alexis Smith, DeWain Valentine, and Tom Wudl.

MOCA has continued to honor the legacy of that original group by appointing artists to its Board of Trustees, including current Trustees John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, Catherine Opie, and Edward Ruscha. The museum has consistently aimed to be a major resource for local artists, bringing the Los Angeles arts community into dialogue with nationally and internationally renowned artists—not only through its exceptional collection, but also through a diverse array of exhibitions and programs. 

The Artist’s Museum spans both of MOCA’s downtown Los Angeles buildings. Works at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA will comprise primarily sculpture and installation, and MOCA Grand Avenue will feature painting, photography, and works on paper. Doug Aitken’s Electric Earth, (1999) a hyperkinetic fable of modern life in the form of an 8-channel video installation, will be on view for the first time ever at MOCA as part of The Artist’s Museum. Also included in the exhibition will be work by artist Robbie Conal ; Thomas Houseago’s monumental sculpture Sprawling Octopus Man (2009), a new acquisition; Mike Kelley’s large-scale installation Pay for Your Pleasure (1999); an installation by Amanda Ross-Ho based on Double Tragedy Wall (2007) from MOCA’s collection; and a performance by Vaginal Davis. Jim Isermann will create a new project for the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Reception Hall at MOCA Grand Avenue. Artist Pae White designed the graphic identity for the exhibition.

The exhibition is organized for MOCA by Associate Curator Rebecca Morse, in collaboration with a curatorial team that includes Director Jeffrey Deitch, Director of Publications Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Curator Alma Ruiz, and Associate Curator Bennett Simpson. The Artist’s Museum expands on a collection show originally conceived by Chief Curator Paul Schimmel, that considered the work of Los Angeles artists in a local context, following Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years, which presented Los Angeles artists in an international context.

Support: The Artist's Museum is made possible by endowment support from the Sydney Irmas Exhibition Endowment. The exhibition is generously supported by Mandy and Cliff Einstein. Major support is provided by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

FEATURED ARTISTS 

Amy Adler
Doug Aitken
Lita Albuquerque
Peter Alexander
Carlos Almaraz
Edgar Arceneaux
Ron Athey
Judy Baca
John Baldessari
Devendra Banhart
Uta Barth
Vanessa Beecroft
Larry Bell
Billy Al Bengston
Cindy Bernard
Walead Beshty
Jeremy Blake
Jonathan Borofsky
Andrea Bowers
Mark Bradford
Chris Burden
Karen Carson
Vija Celmins
Guy de Cointet
Robbie Conal
Meg Cranston
Vaginal Davis
Devo
Guy Dill
John Divola
Roy Dowell
Sam Durant
Fred Eversley
Morgan Fisher
Judy Fiskin
Simone Forti
Llyn Foulkes
Sam Francis
Charles Gaines
Harry Gamboa Jr.
Charles Garabedian
Frank O. Gehry
Jack Goldstein
Piero Golia
Joe Goode
Robert Graham
Alexandra Grant
Katie Grinnan
Gronk
Mark Grotjahn
Richard Hawkins
Tim Hawkinson
Wayne Healy
Robert Heinecken
George Herms
David Hockney
Patrick Hogan
Evan Holloway
Thomas Houseago
Douglas Huebler
Elliott Hundley
Robert Irwin
Jim Isermann
Richard Jackson
Cameron Jamie
Larry Johnson
William E. Jones
Miranda July
Glenn Kaino
Craig Kauffman
Mike Kelley
Mary Kelly
Martin Kersels
Toba Khedoori
Edward Kienholz and Nancy       
Reddin Kienholz 
John Knight
Barbara Kruger
Lisa Lapinski
Liz Larner
William Leavitt
Gary Lloyd
Sharon Lockhart
Peter Lodato
Liza Lou
Machine Project
Florian Maier-Aichen
Kerry James Marshall
Daniel Joseph Martinez
Paul McCarthy
John McCracken
Rodney McMillian
Matthew Monahan
Ivan Morley
Ed Moses
Dave Muller
Kori Newkirk
Ruben Ochoa
Catherine Opie
Rubén Ortiz-Torres
Kaz Oshiro
John Outterbridge
Laura Owens
Jorge Pardo
Helen Pashgian
Jennifer Pastor
Raymond Pettibon
Lari Pittman
Monique Prieto
Stephen Prina
Charles Ray
Joe Ray
Roland Reiss
Jason Rhoades
Amanda Ross-Ho
Nancy Rubins
Sterling Ruby
Allen Ruppersberg
Edward Ruscha
Mark Ryden
Betye Saar
Kenny Scharf
Lara Schnitger
Allan Sekula
Jim Shaw
Peter Shelton
Paul Sietsema
Alexis Smith
Frances Stark
Jennifer Steinkamp
Henry Taylor
Diana Thater
Robert Therrien
DeWain Valentine
Jeffrey Vallance
Bill Viola
Marnie Weber
James Welling
Eric Wesley
Charlie White
Pae White
Christopher Williams
Robert Williams
Tom Wudl
Bruce Yonemoto
Andrea Zittel

MOCA - THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
www.moca.org

Rétrospective Erwin Wurm, Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon

Erwin WURM : Rétrospective
Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon
6 juin - 5 août 2007

Le Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon présente du 6 juin au 5 août 2007, une importante rétrospective des oeuvres de l'artiste ERWIN WURM. Conçue pour les espaces du musée de Lyon, cette exposition d'une ampleur exceptionnelle, présente plus d'une centaine d'oeuvres de l'artiste, avec des pièces rares telle que la Fat House, (étonnante maisonnette devenue géante comme si elle avait été soudainement gonflée) appartenant à la West Collection (USA), mais également la toute première Fat Car (voiture déformée comme prête à exploser), ou encore, l'étonnant Truck, (camion dont l'arrière remonte sur le mur défiant les règles de l'apesanteur) spécifiquement réalisé pour Lyon.

Exprimant sa vision du monde avec beaucoup d'humour, à travers vidéos, sculptures, photographies ou installations, Erwin Wurm propose entre autres ses Instructions on How to be politically incorrect, ou encore ses One minute sculptures qui l'ont rendu célèbre et avec lesquelles le visiteur est invité à expérimenter lui-même la notion de sculpture.

Né en 1954 à Bruck en Autriche et formé à la Kunstakademie de Vienne, Erwin Wurm s'inspire autant de Fluxus que de la dérision Dada pour dénoncer, avec une légèreté mêlée de gravité, un quotidien illusoire et l'incongruité de nos existences. Dans ses tout premiers travaux, l'artiste semble vouloir se signaler par son absence avec ses pièces de poussière réduites à une simple empreinte ou ses vêtements accrochés, vides et fragiles enveloppes corporelles. Sculpteur à l'origine, il s'inspire, dans ses dessins, photographies et vidéos, de nos rapports avec les objets usuels dont il détourne l'usage. Attentif aux petits gestes et à l'absurdité du quotidien, le travail de Wurm développe une analyse de la sculpture - de son volume, de son poids, de l'équilibre, du déséquilibre - qui devient pour lui manière de vivre, de mettre en scène, de perturber nos codes et nos habitudes. Avec ses célèbres One Minute Sculptures (1997), Erwin Wurm nous propose une vision originale de la sculpture dans laquelle des actions humaines habituelles sont modifiées, décalées, ou détournées pour un bref instant.

" En se servant du corps humain - et notamment du sien - comme matériau, en utilisant des objets du quotidien, en faisant du temps une dimension essentielle de son travail photographique et vidéo, il a remis en question les fondements de la sculpture - Comment créer une sculpture qui ne soit ni figée dans le temps, ni dans l'espace ? Une sculpture peut-elle devenir un objet quotidien ? ". One Minute sculpture, devient alors le titre générique de ses oeuvres : Erwin Wurm les réalise en invitant une personne, à suivre un protocole simple, en se mettant par exemple en situation temporaire avec un vêtement ou un objet.

Mais Erwin Wurm interroge également dans ses sculptures, les apparences et la réalité qu'elles masquent : le sens de la possession et de l'accumulation. Il développe des recherches sur le processus de création, basées sur les transformations des formes et du poids. Il crée ainsi d'étranges objets ou encore des personnages rendus difformes, exagérément boursouflés, à la limite de l'éclatement. En laissant le visiteur exécuter lui-même sa sculpture Erwin Wurm tend à créer des situations déconcertantes, provocant confusion ou stupéfaction mais conduisant toujours à une réflexion nouvelle emprunte d'humour et de plaisir.

MOCA - Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon
Cité Internationale, 81 quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon
www.moca-lyon.org

Dana Schutz, MOCA Cleveland, Exhibition Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2006

Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2006

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

September 29 - December 30, 2006

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) presents the work of 30-year-old painter Dana Schutz, whose “ecstatically imaginative paintings” have rapidly established her as one of the art stars of the contemporary art world.

Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2006, the first comprehensive solo museum exhibition of the artist’s work, features eighteen paintings created over the last four years, including three new works shown for the first time which were created specifically for MOCA Cleveland’s presentation of the exhibition.

The works, with their thick, lush surfaces and expressive palette of gaudy yellows, reds, deep greens and purples, explore social, emotional and political themes. The exhibition was curated by Raphaela Platow and organized by The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. MOCA’s presentation of the exhibition and related programming was coordinated by Senior Curator Margo Crutchfield.

Dana Schutz describes her work as “pictures that float in and out of pictorial genres. Still-lifes become personified, portraits become events and landscapes become constructions. I embrace the area between which the subject is composed and decomposing, formed and formless, inanimate and alive.” Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2006 demonstrates this approach to painting through significant examples of Schutz’s different bodies of work, including selections from the series, “Frank From Observation” and “Self-Eaters.”

Says Rose Curator Raphaela Platow, “In many of her dynamic works, Schutz attempts to paint things that one almost cannot imagine.” With the Frank From Observation series, Schutz creates a world in which Frank is the last man on earth, a “castaway” who is seen alternately engaged in activity or reposed and contemplative. In the Self-Eaters series, Dana Schutz paints figures who are calmly depicted in the acts of devouring, dismembering and recreating themselves. Other paintings in Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2006, such as Party (2004), which portrays the Bush Administration Cabinet wandering through a jungle, are more politically-charged and overtly satirical.

About Schutz, whose influences include the German Expressionists, Henri Matisse and the Fauves, Paul Gauguin and the Symbolists, and Philip Guston, among others, Raphaela Platow has said she “creates her figurative paintings in thick, glutting strokes, similar to sculpting the image from paint. Many of her works depict hypothetical scenarios that are based on reality, but extended into the imaginary based on the parameters the artist sets for her narratives.”

Born in Livonia, Michigan in 1976, Dana Schutz currently lives and works in New York. She earned a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art (2000) and an MFA from the Columbia University School of Fine Arts in New York (2002). Her paintings have been featured in one-person shows in New York, Boston, Paris, Berlin, and Santa Fe, and in many group exhibitions, such as the Prague and Venice Biennials. Dana Schutz’s work is in numerous private and public collections including The Progressive Collection in Cleveland, OH; the Saatchi Collection in London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all in New York.

MOCA - MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND

11400 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106

www.mocacleveland.org