LOS ANGELES, CA.- Venus presents an exhibition of new sculptures by Marianne Vitale, marking the artist’s first solo show on the West Coast.

Vitale’s sculptures incorporate infrastructure staples (such as steel rail supports for an entire transport system and wooden beams for the base of a building’s framework) and interact with the gallery—a 14,500 square foot warehouse divided into two adjoining spaces.

The first space holds Thought Field (2016), composed of 90 unaltered factory-length sections of used steel railroad track, circa the 1920’s, with a combined weight of over 60 tons. Situated horizontally and suspended slightly above the ground, the 40-foot by 40-foot ‘field’ of rail calls attention to the material’s density, inviting the viewer to become aware of their own physicality while confronting the expanse.

In the second gallery space, for her new series Beam Work, the artist displays six towering stacks of eleven-foot long white pine squared timbers that have been hand-painted, bashed and pummeled to loosely recall urban traffic barricades. Though white and caution-orange stripes abound, a broader color scheme as well as a varying level of destructive force are present throughout the orderliness of the collections. Monumental in size and weight, Vitale’s installations utilize the immensity of utilitarian materials while staging industrial storage conventions.

Marianne Vitale (b. 1973) graduated from the School of Visual Arts, NYC (1996). Recent projects include a solo exhibition at Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (2015); Karma, New York (2015); The Contemporary Austin, Texas (2013); works featured on Chelsea’s High Line, New York (2014); and commissions for Frieze NY and Performa NY (2013). Her work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, White Columns, the Brooklyn Museum, Anthology Film Archives, San Francisco Art Institute; and international venues such as Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria; Le Confort Moderne, France; Tensta Konsthall, Sweden; UKS, Norway; and Contemporary Art Center of Vilnius, Lithuania. Recent publications include Oh, Don't Ask Why, CFA, Berlin; These Things Are Hard To Say, Yogurt Boys Press, NY; Lost Marbles, Editions Lutanie, Paris; and Train Wreck, Kitto San, New York.