Jean Arp
Ben Nicholson
Lucio Fontana
Piero Manzoni
Henri Laurens
Sergio Camargo
Enrico Castellani
Fausto Melotti
Gunther Uecker
Luis Tomasello
Mira Schendel
The exhibition connects artists united by a common medium: the abstract white relief. It features works by Jean Arp, Ben Nicholson, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Laurens and Camargo, Enrico Castellani, Fausto Melotti, Gunther Uecker, Luis Tomasello, and Mira Schendel, amongst others.
In February 2015, Dominique Lévy Gallery will present
Sotto Voce, the second show
at its new London space. This exhibition will connect artists from around the world,
united by a common medium: the abstract white relief. From the earliest unfoldings
of figuration by Henri Laurens produced in Paris to the harmonious constructions of
the Brazilian Sergio Camargo, Sotto Voce
will map the progression of the abstract
white relief geographically and through time, with a focus on the 1930s to 1970s.
Alongside Laurens and Camargo, the exhibition will feature works by Jean Arp, Ben
Nicholson, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Fausto Melotti, Günther
Uecker, Luis Tomasello, and Mira Schendel,
amongst others. While the white palette may
give the works a soft voice, their messages
are loud and clear, whether they may be a cry
of hope, an attempt at nothingness, an expression of aesthetic idealism, or a surge towards transcendence.
Sotto Voce
will demonstrate how this subtle yet forceful dialogue
was carried out internationally through the
language of the white relief by artists at the
forefront of their respective movements, ranging from Surrealism to the Zero Group, Spatialism to Minimalism, and Conceptual Art to
Constructivism.
Sotto Voce
will be accompanied by a scholarly exhibition book featuring an essay by
Dr James Fox of Cambridge University, who specialises in the cultural history of
colour. Among numerous media appearances, in 2013 he presented the acclaimed
BBC series ‘A History of Art in Three Colours,’ which dedicated an episode to white.
Exhibition Highlights
Highlights include Arp’s ‘Composition schématique' from 1943. Arp
created his earliest reliefs at the
height of Dadaism during the 1910s,
and produced his
first monochromatic white-on-white reliefs in the 1920s,
developing them further in the 1930s.
The present work lies in sharp contrast with his earlier, dreamlike, Surrealist reliefs, with its geometric
composition
filled with angularity. It
dates from the year his beloved wife
Sophie Taeuber-Arp tragically died
of asphyxiation from the fumes of a
coal stove. In his grief Arp slowed
down his activities, and indeed ‘Composition schématique'
is one of only a handful of
works created during this period. With its forms echoing those of other reliefs made
as a monument to his wife, the present work in marble also celebrates the beauty of
the Mediterranean, a constant inspiration for Arp.
Ben Nicholson also stands out as an innovator of the abstract white relief; he will be
represented in
Sotto Voce
by ‘White Relief’ (1936) a perfect example from his iconic
series. Inspired by European schools of thought such as Abstraction-Création,
Bauhaus and De Stijl, as well as his British contemporaries, Nicholson’s white
reliefs are a geometric foil to the organic shapes created by Arp, whom
Nicholson befriended in France. In
the present work, two circles of
slightly different sizes peer out
from raised rectangles almost of
the golden ratio, held up by yet another such rectangle. The gentle
echoing of forms creates a pleasing
balance. There is a softness to the
composition which could not have
been achieved with perfect symmetry, and the pure white palette imbues the relief with a level of enlightenment.
We are also delighted to exhibit Manzoni’s ‘Achrome' from 1958, a fantastic example
of his
first series of “achromes” created through the marriage of wet kaolin and canvas, which, as they crystallised and hardened, resulted in folds. The
final appearance
was thus determined solely by the internal energies of the materials, completely independent of the artist's hand. Our work emanates a primal, “virgin” state of the
crude medium, and its colourlessness is integral to the artist’s investigation into
nothingness and his aim to create a radical tabula rasa.
At around the same time that Manzoni
was producing his achromes, Günther
Uecker joined the Zero Group and developed his iconic nail paintings.
Sotto Voce
will feature his ‘Untitled’ from
1967, a wonderful work in white, which
was not only Uecker’s preferred tone
but also an essential colour to the Zero
Group’s aim of
finding purity, newness,
and positivity, and a perfect platform to
demonstrate the power of light in art.
‘Untitled’, with its neat rows of painted
nails quietly lined up, is an ever-changing spectacle for the viewer, leaving him
or her trans
fixed in an optimal performance. Pure and simple yet entrancing,
the painting vibrates with a gentle energy and stillness.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, art historical
progress in Europe was making a mark in
South America. Brazilian Sergio Camargo
studied under Lucio Fontana at the Academia
Altamira in Buenos Aires, and later travelled
to Paris where he was strongly in
fluenced by
the works of Jean Arp, Henri Laurens, and
Constantin Brancusi. His experimentations
with abstraction led to the creation of his archetypal white reliefs, comprised of painted
wooden cylindrical elements. ‘Untitled
(288)’ (1970) is a fantastic example from this
series, with its
flowing spirals
filling up the
frame, evoking a movement from the individual
part to the multiple whole,
floating in a dimension between painting and sculpture, in a constant otherworldly trance.
Press contact:
Diana Babei, Rhiannon Pickles PR: +44 (0)7789 868991 diana@picklespr.com
Dominique Lévy London
22 Old Bond Street, London
Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 6 pm and by appointment