Pace is pleased to return to FIAC (Foire International d’Art Contemporain), presented at the Grand Palais in Paris, from 23 to 26 October 2014. Pace will present half a century of artistic investigations expressed in a modern and minimalist vocabulary, spanning from the 1960s to the present. The gallery (Booth 0.A44) will feature a selection of works from modern luminaries alongside contemporary works by leading American and Asian artists.
The centrepiece of Pace’s presentation is an impressive aluminium installation by Donald Judd, one of the most significant American artists of the post war period. This remarkable work is a testimony of Judd’s explorations of volume, interval, “actual space,” and colour. The artist had a profound impact on the course of modern sculpture.
In dialogue with Judd’s metallic work, is the untitled monochromatic mobile from 1974 by Alexander Calder, one of history’s most inventive and enduring artists. 1974 marks a particularly celebratory year for Calder as he was awarded the Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur of France as well as the Grand Prix National des Arts et des Lettres from the French Minister of Culture. Calder shared a long-lasting relationship with France. First visiting in 1926, his early practice was inspired by the Parisian avant-garde and, as of 1931 Calder created his first abstract sculptures that were later coined as “mobiles” and “stabiles” by Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp. Calder created some of his most iconic work at his studio in Saché, where the Atelier Calder residency programme stands today. His legacy remains synonymous with modernity; creating an aesthetic that is at once instantly recognizable, elegant, whimsical, and rhythmic. Pace is currently presenting an outdoor exhibit of Calder’s large public sculptures in Midtown Manhattan, on view until 10 November 2014. Opening in November 2015, Calder will be the subject of a major exhibition at Tate Modern.
Holding Calder in great esteem as “he moved space into mass,” abstract painter Agnes Martin believed that painting began with the Abstract Expressionists. Martin’s ethereal painting, Little Children Loving Love (2001), is also on view at FIAC. Included in her five-part retrospective at Dia:Beacon in 2007, Little Children Loving Love exemplifies Martin’s exploration of internal emotional states. Evoking innocence and joy, Martin’s themes resonate through the title of her painting as much as they manifest in the subtle relationships between the gridded plane of graphite lines and colour. In June 2015, Tate Modern will stage the first retrospective of the seminal American painter since her death in 2004.
Pace booth will also feature a survey of abstract, minimalist, and conceptual works. Indian artist Prabhavathi Meppayil’s subtle play of metallic lines and almost imperceptible indentations call to mind the pared-down visual language of Agnes Martin. Her reinterpretation of such minimalist trademarks as the grid and serial repetition also recall Sol LeWitt’s white Small Structure #5, also on display at FIAC.
Pace is proud to present Larry Poons’ rhythmic painting, Jessica’s Hartford (1965). Recognized as a Colour Field artist, Poon’s Jessica’s Hartford exemplifies the dot paintings that heralded his early critical acclaim and renown. Influenced by Mondrian and the connection between visual art and music composition, Poons’ early painting is characterized by vividly-coloured flat backgrounds superimposed by irregularly placed dots and ellipses that convey a sense of movement and musical tempo.
Mario Merz and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s works will also be celebrated at the Pace stand at FIAC. Pace London currently presents an exhibition of Mario Merz works at 6 Burlington Gardens (running until 8 November) which will be followed by an exhibition of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Still-Lifesfrom 21 November. Sugimoto’s surreal black-and-white photographic renderings of tableaux found in natural history museums play with perceptions of time, space, and reality. Using a large format camera, Sugimoto brings a realistic clarity and exceptional tonality to staged recreations of nature that show no evidence of humankind. While the images appear to be a record of nature, they are artificially constructed representations.
Presenting works by
Yto Barrada
Larry Bell
Alexander Calder
Keith Coventry
Tara Donovan
Jean Dubuffet
Tim Hawkinson
Robert Irwin
Donald Judd
Lee Ufan
Sol LeWitt
Robert Mangold
Agnes Martin
Prabhavathi Meppayil
Mario Merz
Kenneth Noland
Larry Poons
Michal Rovner
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Zhang Huan
Zhang Xiaogang
Zhao Yao