Robert Mangold
dal 7/9/2009 al 2/10/2009
Segnalato da
7/9/2009
Robert Mangold
Lisson Gallery, London
The artist presents a selection of new paintings and works on paper made this year. Mangold seeks an equilibrium between the recurring elements in his work: simple geometric forms, coloured with hand-made tints, and often curvilinear lines hand-drawn within these forms. Exhibiting simultaneously with "Lisson Presents 5", focusing on work of Melvin Moti and Florian Pumhosl; the show questions the abstract dimension of art, as a historical notion based on a process of self-definition and self-reference.
In his eighth exhibition at Lisson Gallery since his first show here in 1973, Robert Mangold presents a selection of new paintings and works on paper made this year.
Mangold seeks an equilibrium between the recurring elements in his work: simple geometric forms, coloured with hand-made tints, and often curvilinear lines hand-drawn within these forms. The works are deceptively simple and 'minimalist', demonstrating a seemingly infinite variety of invention and nuance within self-imposed geometric constraints.
Mangold almost always works in extensive series, often carried through both paintings and works on paper. Here he presents examples from his most recent 'Ring' series, each a kind of visual conundrum in which linear figures establish their formal presence within the infinite space of the ring-shaped ground.
Robert Mangold was born in1937. He lives and works in upstate New York.
Since his first solo exhibition in 1964, Mangold's work has been exhibited extensively worldwide, including solo exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1971; Kunsthalle Basel, 1977 and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1982. His work has been included three times in Documenta (1972, 1977, 1982) and four times in the Whitney Biennial (1979, 1983, 1985, 2004). He recently showed work from the 1980s at the Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London, and will present a major exhibition of drawings and works on paper at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York from October this year.
Mangold's work is in many major international collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and Tate, London.
Exhibiting simultaneously with "Lisson Presents 5" – focusing on work of Melvin Moti and Florian Pumhösl
9 September – 3 October 2009
29 Bell Street
The exhibition questions the abstract dimension of art, as a historical notion based on a process of self-
definition and self-reference. The artists selected use abstraction in different ways, investigating the mind as
constructor of forms, which in turn generate variations and possibilities for complex systems of
representation. Some of the works in the exhibition explore the possibility of defining an 'occult' primeval
and universal visual vocabulary, while others seek and record patterns – formal or behavioural – in natural
or cultural manifestations. Abstraction can also be seen as a strategy to turn the rejection of a figurative
dimension and a position of passivity into a creative one, through the automatic creation of images.
The Prisoner's Cinema is a phenomenon recorded in conditions of prolonged psychosensorial deprivation,
the brain responding by generating its own visual hallucinations, which take the form of geometric light
shapes. The existence of universal 'form constants', recurring independently of a subject's interpretation or
background, supports the notion of a formalism of the occult. This can be interpreted as a system of sensorial
perception that pre-exists culture and language and takes place in the mind emptied by all thoughts, at
'point blank'. The 'form constants' can therefore be considered as a form of abstraction, removed from all
specificity. Melvin Moti's film explores the displacement occurring in the self-perception of consciousness,
where the subject is a spectator and a witness of his own sensations and thoughts. The film follows separate
durational structures, where an underlying tension is articulated between the visible and the spoken, as the
visual imagery is manifested with a degree of restraint and language offers an inadequate attempt to
translate it into words.
Under the title Moving Stage, Florian Pumhösl's series of assemblages are composed of groups of four
slightly inclined rectangular panels, covered in black cloth, on which shapes cut out of glass pane are
arranged as part of a systematic geometric pattern. The patterns follow specific formal themes and are
evocative of progressions, ramps or templates for dresses. They refer to concepts of the modern stage as a
suggestion of space through the use of a simple geometric vocabulary. The works follow the principles of
modern collage, where each element can be identified as a fragment of a pre-existing order, following a
temporal sequence rather than a spatial construction.
Lisson Presents is a series of exhibitions devised for the 2009 programme at 29 Bell Street. Exhibitions
include a focused presentation of an artist not currently represented by the gallery, a new body of work by
a Lisson artist and a selection of works by Lisson Gallery artists from 1967 to now. Since its foundation,
Lisson Gallery's reputation has had two defining characteristics: its support for art with a conceptual
foundation, and its championing of successive generations of British and international artists. Lisson Presents
has been exploring different aspects of this dual ethos, constrained neither by fashion or history instead
drawing on the dynamic interplay between tradition and invention.
Artist Biographies
Melvin Moti was born in 1977 and lives and works in Rotterdam. Since completing his studies at the
Academy in Tilburg and his post-graduate residency at De Ateliers, Amsterdam, he has exhibited widely in
Europe, at the Frac Champagne in Reims, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Kunstverein Köln, MMK
Zollamt and at the 5th Berlin Biennale.
Florian Pumhösl, was born in 1971 and lives and works in Vienna. Solo exhibitions of his work include
Mudam, Luxembourg, Neue Kunsthalle St Gallen, Zurich Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne and Secession,
Vienna. The artist has participated in Documenta 12, the 27. Sao Paolo Biennale and dreams and conflicts:
The Dictatorship of the Viewer, Venice Biennale. Upcoming projects include the group exhibition
Modernologies at Macba, Barcelona in September 2009 and will have a solo exhibition at Mumok in Vienna
in 2011.
Image: Robert Mangold
For press enquiries please contact oliver.balston@flint-pr.com | +44 (0)2072248191
Opening sept. 8th, 2009
Lisson Gallery
29 & 52-54 Bell Street - London
Hours: Mon- Fri 10 am -6 pm; Sat 11 am -5 pm
Free admission