Venice: Palazzo Fortuny
– Tapies. The Eye of the Artist. Until November 24, at Palazzo Fortuny “Tàpies. The eye of the Artist” exhibition. Antoni Tàpies’ ‘eye’, his way of perceiving
things, of looking around himself without limits of time and space, striving
for answers about the universe, human nature, art, the mystery of life. A year
after the death of the brilliant Catalan artist, a key exponent of
international informal art, the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation pay tribute to him in Venice with a fascinating
exhibition which aims to reveal the essence of the art produced by this major
figure in 20th century art. It does so through Tapies ‘own gaze’ and
hence through those cultural, artistic and emotional references he discerned in
a plurality of expressions and in the most varied works of art forming part of
his own private collection.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. Realized in close collaboration with the Tàpies family, and laid
out in the intimate and extremely appropriate setting of the home of Mariano
Fortuny, himself a Spaniard and eclectic collector, the exhibition is curated
by Daniela Ferretti, Natasha Hebert, Toni Tàpies and Axel Vervoordt with the
scientific direction of Gabriella Belli, I the exhibition presents a selection
of the artist’s key works, reinterpreted within the context of his private
collection with the aim of gaining a sense of how Tàpies looked at the world, his “gaze”, as artist and collector.
Above: Toni Tapies and Natasha
Herbert-Tapies.
Antoni Tapies – Triptic dels Draps, 1992, mixed media and assemblage on
wood.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. Alongside paintings by the Catalan artist, selected from an
intuitive and emotional stance rather than a chronological there are a number
of works by other artists of the 20th century, such as Joan Miró, Pablo
Picasso, Kazuo Shiraga, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and Jannis Kounellis and a
number of antique Oriental and tribal sculptures. All works from the private
home of Tàpies and in many cases displayed to the public here for the first
time.
Above: Alberto Giacometti, Homme, 1992, bronze with brown and gold patina.
Co-curators Daniela Ferretti and
Axel Vervoordt.
Max Ernst – Foret Bleue, 1926, oil on cardboard laid on canvas.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. A detail, Sadaharu Horio, Hommage to Tapies, Every Day Painting, A Matter of
Course, 2013, installation with water mattress and recuperation material.
Painted live by Sadaharu Horio during the cocktail party for the
exhibition.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. Tapies constantly sought
answers to the mysteries of existence and the common features of humanity,
leaving aside genres, time and place; an intrinsic sense, a “universal power”
in things from which to draw stimuli and possible lines of development. He
explored ancient, modern or contemporary art of various genres and provenance,
products of distant cultures such as Asian and African art, plus music, poetry,
philosophy and science, used to “fertilize” contemporary art.
Above: Peace Ball made by Zen monks as a meditation exercise, Thailand, 20th
century, sandstone.
Artist Anne-Karin Furunes and Galleria Traghetto’s Elena Povellato.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. Tàpies was influenced by
philosophers, theologians and scientists, as well as by the greatest Old
Masters and contemporary artists. The osmosis sparked off by these influences
guided him through life, not only as artist, but also as collector. Embracing
the unknown and exploring these paradoxes, Tàpies became a prolific and
inspired artist.
Antoni LLena, Paisatge Sense Figures, 1991, manipulated paper.
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. Gunther Uecker, Trees and
Nails, A Tribute to Tapies, 2008-2013, tree trunk, nails, cloth and ashes.
Valerie Bauchau and May Vervoordt
Palazzo Fortuny: Tàpies. The eye of
the Artist. There are some important
artists’ books with powerful lithographs, produced by Tàpies in collaboration
with writers and poets.
Above: Roman
Elegies by Joseph Brodsky, 1993, with nine lithographs by Antoni Tapies
published by Erker-Verlag, St. Gallen.
Photograph Fundació Antoni Tàpies,
Barcellona
Tapies in Venice. Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies,
Rodolphe Stadler and Hisao Domoto
in Piazza San Marco.