Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin
dal 16/2/2011 al 11/3/2011
Segnalato da
16/2/2011
Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin
Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi, London
'Do Not Abandon Me' is a collaboration between Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin consisting of sixteen intimate works made over the past two years. These drawings articulate physical drives and feelings, candidly confronting themes of identity, sexuality and the fear of loss and abandonment through joint expression.
Hauser & Wirth is proud to present 'Do Not Abandon
Me', a collaboration between Louise Bourgeois and
Tracey Emin consisting of sixteen intimate works made
over the past two years. These drawings articulate
physical drives and feelings, candidly confronting
themes of identity, sexuality and the fear of loss and
abandonment through joint expression.
'Do Not Abandon Me' originated with Bourgeois, who
began the works by painting male and female torsos in
profile on paper, mixing red, blue and black gouache
pigments with water to create delicate and fluid silhouettes.
Bourgeois then passed the images on to Emin, who later
confessed: 'I carried the images around the world with me
from Australia to France, but I was too scared to touch
them'. Emin overlaid Bourgeois's forms with fantasy,
drawing smaller figures that engaged with the torsos like
Lilliputian lovers, enacting the body's desires and anxieties.
In one, a woman kisses an erect phallus; in another, a small
fetus-like form protrudes from a swollen belly. In many,
Emin's handwriting inscribes the images with a narrative,
putting into words the emotions expressed in Bourgeois's
vibrant gouaches.
This suite of prints was one of the last projects Louise Bourgeois completed before her death. They were then
printed at Dye-namix studio in New York with archival dyes on cloth in an edition of 18 sets with 6 artist proofs. The
exhibition travels to Hauser & Wirth from Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York, and is accompanied by a fully
illustrated catalogue.
Louise Bourgeois (b. Paris 1911, d. New York 2010)
is regarded as one of the greatest female artists of the
twentieth century. In 1982 she became the first female artist
to have a retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern
Art. A comprehensive survey of her work was organised in
2007 by Tate Modern, which travelled to Centre Pompidou,
Paris, the Guggenheim Museum, New York NY, Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, and the Hirshhorn
Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington DC.
Recent solo exhibitions include 'Louise Bourgeois: The
Fabric Works', which travelled from Fondazione Emilio e
Annabianca Vedova, Venice to Hauser & Wirth London,
Savile Row (2010). In February 2011, Hauser & Wirth Zürich
will host an exhibition of portraits of Louise Bourgeois taken
by photographer Alex Van Gelder.
Tracey Emin (b. London 1963) studied painting at
Maidstone College of Art, Kent, and the Royal College of
Art, London. In 2007 Emin represented Britain at the 52nd
Venice Biennale. In 2008 the Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art held her first major retrospective, ‘Tracey Emin
20 Years’, which subsequently toured to the Centro de Arte
Contemporáneo, Malaga, Spain and the Kunstmuseum
Bern, Switzerland in 2009. She lives and works in London.
About Hauser & Wirth
Hauser & Wirth is an international gallery, founded in
Zurich in 1992 by Iwan and Manuela Wirth and Ursula
Hauser. In 1996 the Zurich gallery opened in the
former Löwenbräu brewery building, along with other
contemporary art galleries, the Kunsthalle Zürich, and the
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst Zürich.
In 2003, Hauser & Wirth opened Hauser & Wirth London on Piccadilly in an historic building designed by Sir Edwin
Lutyens, adding a new and energetic dimension to London's growing importance as an international art centre.
Hauser & Wirth's outdoor sculpture programme, inaugurated in September 2009, is located behind the Piccadilly
gallery in Southwood Garden, St James's Church. In 2006, Hauser & Wirth at Colnaghi was created on London's
Old Bond Street. Hauser & Wirth New York opened to the public on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in September
2009.
In September 2010, Hauser & Wirth re-located their Zurich space to a new temporary location at Hubertus Exhibitions
while the Löwenbräu building undergoes major renovation.
In October 2010 Hauser & Wirth opened its new gallery at 23 Savile Row. Offering 15,000 square feet of exhibition
space, the gallery provides an outstanding setting for larger exhibitions and more expansive installations. In addition,
7,000 square feet of the building's first floor will be developed for an extensive library and archive and new offices.
Image: I lost you, 2009–2010, Archival dyes printed on cloth
Opening Thursday 17 February 2011, 6 – 8 pm
Hauser & Wirth London
15 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4AX
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm
Free admission