Official Collateral Event of the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Forg in Venice will follow Günther Förg: a Fragile Beauty, the first American exhibition in over thirty years dedicated to the artist, organized in 2018 by the Dallas Museum of Art in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Over 30 works from Förg's multidisciplinary path, from paintings to sculptures, are on display and can be visited from 11 May to 23 August 2019.
Förg is one of the most significant German artists of the post-war generation, known for his experimental and provocative style linked to art history. Through his innovative interdisciplinary production, Förg explores the languages of abstraction and expressionism, he appropriates metaphors borrowed from architecture and modern art.
Italy and Italian architecture played a central role in the development of Förg's career. His first trip to Italy, in 1982, stimulated his well-known series of photographs of buildings of cultural and political significance, from Italian monuments to Bauhaus-style buildings in Tel Aviv. Through photography, Förg was able to explore the relationship between art, architecture and spatial interventions, a recurring theme throughout his production that the Venice exhibition will highlight.
The exhibition investigates the legacy of aesthetic modernism (one of the ideals at the heart of Förg's studio) in a space rich in history and craftsmanship. The exhibition will not have a traditional development but a setting with a great atmosphere where the artist's works will inhabit an intimate and private context, evoking a melancholy and a romanticism that illustrates the artist's interest in the dialogue between art, architecture and fruition.
In the Salone del Palazzo, four extraordinary Spot Painting-style paintings made between 2007 and 2009 are placed in front of four large tapestries. In the hall of mirrors of the Palace, a series of sculptures by Förg, created in 1990, are placed here near the windows. Finally, along the side halls of the Palazzo, various abstract paintings by Förg dating from the XNUMXs to the XNUMXs will be on display, replacing the usually exhibited works of art.
Günther Förg è nato in 1952 in the Allgäu region, Germany. From 1973 to 1979 he studied under Karl Fred Dahmen at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, making almost exclusively monochrome paintings. In the 1992s he began to experiment with photography, painting and sculpture and had his first solo exhibition at the Rüdiger Schöttle Gallery in Munich. In 1992 he was invited to take part in Documenta IX in Kassel. From 1996 he taught at the University of Art and Design in Karlsruhe. In 2013 he was awarded the prestigious Wolfgang Hahn Prize, and two years later he became a professor at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, where he taught until his death in 61 at the age of XNUMX. His art is known for its references to modernist masters such as Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, Mark Rothko and Edvard Munch.
Palazzo Contarini Polignac, also known as Contarini dal Zaffo, is one of the most important early Renaissance buildings in Venice. It was most probably designed by Giovanni Buora in the XNUMXth century, although past studies have attributed it to Mauro Codussi. In addition to an extraordinary marble facade that recalls Tuscan classicism, the Palace has remarkable details including a side facade with three arches that borders the garden of Palazzo Balbi-Valier Sammartini. Palazzo Contarini Polignac boasts a long and important artistic past since the beginning of the XNUMXth century, when Princess Winnaretta de Polignac, a well-known connoisseur and patron of art, began to organize chamber music concerts whose fame, from the Grand Canal, reached all of Europe. Noted for its focus on the European avant-garde, these concerts also featured guests Ethel Smyth and Igor Stravinsky. Recently, Palazzo Contarini Polignac has hosted numerous exhibitions of contemporary art.
Opened in the 1903, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) it is among the top 10 art museums in the United States and is distinguished by research, innovation and public engagement. The heart of the Museum and its programs is its global collection which includes over 24.000 works spanning 5000 years of history, representing a diverse assortment of the world's cultures. Located in the largest arts district in the United States, the Museum stimulates the creativity of the inhabitants, involving people of all ages and cultural backgrounds in the rich programming that includes exhibitions, seminars, concerts, literary events, and dance performances. Since restoring free admission in 2013, the Museum has welcomed over 4 million visitors, including 800.000 in 2018 alone. For more information, visit DMA.org.
The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of its members and by donations, from the citizens of Dallas through the City Office of Cultural Activities, and from the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Cover image: Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice, Italy. Courtesy Palazzo Contarini Polignac
