Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition of modern and contemporary works by important female artists

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition of modern and contemporary works by important female artists
Anna Maria Maiolino, Untitled, from Ações Matéricas (Material Actions) series, 2018. Acrylic ink on canvas. Two parts, each 120 x 100 cm / 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in © Anna Maria Maiolino. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Everton Ballardin.



ST. MORITZ.- Hauser & Wirth inaugurated the gallery’s first summer season in St. Moritz with an exhibition of modern and contemporary works by important female artists from the gallery’s roster. Entitled ‘Material Actions’, the exhibition takes its title from a series by the artist Anna Maria Maiolino and refers to the gesture innate in the creative process. The presentation aims to explore the complex discourse of painting, questioning its inherently masculine tradition, and the different ways in which artists in the exhibition have engaged with the genre. All works show traces of the hand whether the artist is expressing geometric form, line or their own subjectivity. The perspectives featured traverse continents and decades including work by the key figures: Rita Ackermann, Ida Applebroog, Mary Heilmann, Jenny Holzer, Luchita Hurtado, Maria Lassnig, Lee Lozano and Anna Maria Maiolino.

Of the many dialogues which are evoked by these artists, the relationship between abstract form and colour runs as a thread throughout the first part of the presentation. On the first floor of the gallery, works by Mary Heilmann and Anna Maria Maiolino delve into the possibilities and myriad permutations of abstraction. In the case of Mary Heilmann, the poetry of the works lies in the tension between the rigours of geometry and the contingencies of the human and the organic. The simplicity of these works, such as ‘The Red Screen’ (1995), is played down by a deceptive form of nonchalance and perceptible brushstrokes. Heilmann’s casual painting technique conceals a frequently complex structure that only gradually reveals itself to the viewer.

Anna Maria Maiolino, one of the most significant artists working in Brazil today, uses abstraction and fragmentation to explore notions of subjectivity and the self. Her application of paint often bears the imprint of unconscious gestures, daily rituals and sensory expressions of being. In her series Ações Matéricas (Material Actions), Maiolino’s mark-making is based on the repetition of basic actions that are recorded in the material.

The application of paint or ink to surface retains an intimacy between artist and object bringing to mind the contemplative space of the studio. In this respect, the exhibition, which features works dating over the last half century, encourages an interrogation of the creative act. The relationship between hand, gesture and line is pertinent in the works of Ackermann, Lassnig, and Hurtado, who use the canvas as a tool to forge their own subjective experiences, shifting between figuration and abstraction. Rita Ackermann has continuously challenged means of representation in contemporary painting. The artist’s often ghost-like compositions are achieved through sweeping, determined gestures of drawing, painting and erasing, wherein figures rise to the surface only to dissolve again.

Austrian artist Maria Lassnig devoted much of her career to recording her physiological states through a direct and unflinching style. Works featured in the exhibition, such as the important early figurative painting ‘Die Diktatoren (The Dictators)’ (1964), combines abstracted, anthropomorphic figures with vivid hues to capture physical sensations the artist felt from within.

Luchita Hurtado merges abstraction and representation in her painting practice with mystical effect, exploring connections between the body and its larger context – nature, the environment, and the cosmos – in an effort to express universality and transcendence. The oil on paper works in the exhibition depict brightly coloured lines of yellows, greens, oranges and blues (drawing on the tropical fauna of Mexico and her native Venezuela) to create angular compositions that could be seen to morph from landscapes into figures. This artistic vocabulary which has been formed through a coalescence of abstraction, mysticism, corporeality and landscape, speaks to the multicultural and experiential contexts that have shaped the artist’s life and career.

The expressive potential of the painted surface is further considered through the dialogue of Lee Lozano and Ida Applebroog, who are exhibited together on the ground floor of the gallery. Applebroog’s work explores themes of violence and power, gender politics, women’s sexuality and domestic space using images stylistically reminiscent of comics, at once beguiling and disturbing. The expressive strokes of Lee Lozano’s paintings are imbued with energy, daring physicality and tirelessness as the artist investigates the body and issues of gender. Both artists use the genre of painting as a powerful tool for expression.

While painting is frequently a deeply personal endeavour, the medium’s potential as a political statement is in evidence through the work of Jenny Holzer. A recent series of paintings by Holzer features decommissioned military documents bearing testimony to acts of brutality. Here the artist creates a powerful tension between the realms of feeling and knowledge. Her approach to these works encompass both individual and collective experiences of power, violence, and vulnerability made tangible by veils of watercolour paint which obscure, and effectively censor, sections of the text.










Today's News

July 17, 2019

'One giant leap': United States marks Apollo mission 50 years on

Sotheby's hosts major exhibition celebrating the émigrés who transformed the British art world

National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art explores the role of the vase in art

Benin readies for return of treasures taken by France

The Brooklyn Museum opens 'Rembrandt to Picasso: Five Centuries of European Works on Paper'

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts adds major work by Tony Cragg to its collection

Sotheby's to offer the Collection Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, the 'Last Queen of Paris'

South African anti-apartheid singer Johnny Clegg dies aged 66

Christie's offers meteorites from the Stifler Collection

Pace/MacGill moves to Pace Gallery's new headquarters at 540 West 25th Street

Spruth Magers presents an exhibition of works by Eric Fischl

Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition of modern and contemporary works by important female artists

More than 100 artworks added to PAFA's permanent collection at recent Collections Committee meeting

Terra Foundation adds Raymond J. McGuire and Jay Xu to Board of Directors

Meijer Gardens announces hiring of Curator of Sculpture and Sculpture Exhibitions

Pérez Art Museum Miami announces first Caribbean Cultural Institute, with $1M gift from Mellon Foundation

$100 bill worth $1 million to be auctioned

The Winter Show 2020 loan exhibition will feature masterworks from across the Hispanic world

French MPs agree Notre-Dame restoration as controversy swirls

Bart van der Heide appointed Director at Museion, Bolzano

Solo exhibition by New York based artist Josh Sperling on view at Perrotin

'Material Landscape, Social Landscape: Human Presence' on view at Kunstraum LLC

Gold, silver & bronze medals among Olympic memorabilia up for auction

Lark Mason Associates Sale of Lalique, Baccarat and other Fine Glass achieves $592,883




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful