Michelangelo Pistoletto
dal 31/5/2012 al 13/10/2012
Segnalato da
31/5/2012
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Neue Galerie, Graz
Self-Portraits, Mirrors, Minus-Objects. The retrospective focuses on Pistoletto's early works with which he became famous in the 1960s. Besides numerous self-portraits, the exhibition shows the famous and for Pistoletto typical mirror works and minus objects, which have made a decisive contribution to the development of the Italian Arte Povera. Among the 58 works in total, five videos of Actions from the 1960s can also be found, which together with a selection of documentary material round off the retrospective.
Curator Peter Pakesch
Michelangelo Pistoletto is considered one of the most important artists of the last half century. Like almost no other, he has tackled in his art the epoch-making changes in today’s world and our society in modern democracy. Bringing art into society and connecting it to everyday life lie at the centre of his work. Besides self-representation and reflection, participation is a key concept in Pistoletto’s art. Pistoletto has been connected with Graz since he took part in trigon 75, for example with his solo exhibition in the Künstlerhaus Graz in 1988 and his participation in exhibitions at the Neue Galerie Graz and in the Kunsthaus Graz.
The retrospective in the Neue Galerie Graz focuses on Pistoletto’s early works with which he became famous in the 1960s. Besides numerous self-portraits, the exhibition shows the famous and for Pistoletto typical mirror works and minus objects, which have made a decisive contribution to the development of the Italian Arte Povera. Among the 58 works in total, five videos of Actions from the 1960s can also be found, which together with a selection of documentary material round off the retrospective.
In tune with this solo exhibition in the Joanneum Quarter, the Kunsthaus Graz also sheds light from September onwards on Pistoletto’s current position in the context of the Cittadellarte, a creative, participatory “laboratory” which locates art interactively with all areas of human action (in collaboration with the steirischer herbst).
Michelangelo Pistoletto was born in Biella (IT) in 1933. He has exhibited extensively and his work is in the collection of numerous museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Tate Modern, London; Castello di Rivoli, Turin, and the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. He has participated in several international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale on eleven occasions, and four iterations of documenta. Recent solo exhibitions have been presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, MAXXI, Rome, and the Serpentine Gallery, London and forthcoming projects are planned for Neue Galerie Graz, Kunsthaus Graz, and the Louvre, Paris in 2013. The artist lives and works in Biella, where he founded the interdisciplinary laboratory Cittadellarte in 1998.
Universalmuseum Joanneum, Press Office
presse@ museum-joanneum.at
Opening: June 1, 2012, 7pm
Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum
Sackstr. 16, 8010 Graz Austria
Opening Hours: Tue–Sun 10am – 6pm