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25/6/2001

Salt of the Earth

Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York

Bettina Werner (http://www.Bettina-Werner.com), a renowned artist who is better known as "The Queen of Salt" and whose utterly unique, abstract salt-based art works are featured in museums, galleries and exotic public spaces around the world, will unveil a stunning new collection of work.

"Salt is the fifth element -- as vital as the earth, air, fire or water, " says Werner, who recently exhibited at the Whitney Biennial's Trustees dinner and has been working exclusively with salt for over 15 years. "Throughout history, salt has always been seen as a universal preserver, healer and symbol of incorruptibility -- an undeniable necessity of life on earth."

As part of the Salt of the Earth exhibit, Werner will present over 15 salt paintings -- many of which have never been seen before.

The exhibit in NYC will commence on June 26th (reception 6-8PM; advance media previews at 4 PM) and will conclude on August 15th.

Shortly thereafter, on Friday, July 20th, Werner and Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art will team up once again to conduct a special retrospective of Werner's work at The salt Queen Foundation, which is headquartered in "The salt Kingdom," Werner's new home and studio in the Hamptons (the exhibit itself will be held in a 6000 square foot potato barn, which Werner has converted in her studio).

"Obviously, we're thrilled to host Bettina's first major American exhibit of 2001," says Liz Mayer of Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art. "Bettina is not only an artist of exceptional talent, but she has single-handedly pioneered the use of salt as an artist medium _ and is forever pushing the boundaries of abstraction and minimalism."

Werner's brightly colored, monochromatic paintings are made of panels which have been encrusted with actual grains of salt _ ranging in size from the most minuscule to massive quartz-like chunks -- that have been treated by a special, patent-ptotected coloration process invented and perfected by Werner herself. Many of her paintings include multiple panels, in which the salt's color and texture fluctuate to create a cumulative effect.

In the 1980s, while studying at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Werner first discovered the artistic potential of salt --and began conducting coloration experiments on the grains to achieve various artistic effects. in the space of just a few years, Werner's intensely colored salt paintings and outdoor salt sculptures won her considerable renown throughout Europe, and her works can now be seen in leading museums, galleries and public spaces throughout Italy, Greece, Singapore, France, Montecarlo, Belgium, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Werner was recently named an artist of the 21st Century in one of Italy's leading art studies books, Giulio Carlo Argan's Arte Moderna.

After moving to New York in 1989, Werner's beautiful, exotic salt works caught the eye of American curators, collectors and art lovers. And thus, one year later she conducted her first American exhibit at the Marisa Del Re Gallery in Manhattan. Today, Werner's pieces can be found in leading collections across the nation, including the Detroit Institute of Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington (the collection of Herbert and Dorothy Vogel), Chase Manhattan Bank and the collection of Martin Margulies in Miami.

Werner's new book, The Salt of the Earth, is on sale at the New Museum of Contemporary Art's bookstore in SOHO.

If you have any question about Bettina Werner, or her forthcoming June 26 Salt of the Earth exhibit at Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art, please contact Todd Aydelotte at (212) 588-9975, or Patricia Snavely of Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art at (212) 327-2526.

Winston Wachter Mayer Fine Art
east 78th street, Madison Avenue
New York City

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