Transformer

Gervasuti Foundation Londra-Venice presenta TRANSFORMER un progetto della Ben Brown Fine Arts curato da James Putnam.

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GERVASUTI FOUNDATION
LONDON — VENICE
Gervasuti Foundation Londra
-Venice at Londra Palace
Venice present TRANSFORMER a
Ben Brown Fine Arts project curated by
James Putnam.
TRANSFORMER launches a new cultural
partnership between London and Venice.
Featuring works by Rob and Nick Carter,
Vik Muniz and Gavin Turk. It also includes
Claude Lalanne’s iconic sculpture, ‘Pomme
de Jardin (Rouge)’ in tribute to the artist
who died this April.
Art frequently involves a process of
transformation that relates to subject,
medium and context. Rob and Nick Carter’s
‘Transforming Series’ uses computer
generated imagery to transform static Old
Master works into with subtly moving
paintings. Their ‘Transforming Nude
Painting’ is a digital recreation of the
Venetian Renaissance artist Giorgione’s
famous ‘Sleeping Venus’ (c.1510). It blends
real-time footage of a sleeping model with
a digital rendered landscape where the sky
changes from dawn to dusk. Other works
involve the paradox of animating Dutch 17th
century still life paintings. In ‘Transforming
Five Tulips in a Wan-Li Vase’ flowers
wilt and decay referencing mortality in
accordance with the traditional Vanitas.
Works by Gavin Turk and Vik Muniz
are concerned with a different notion of
transformation - the seemingly alchemic
process of changing worthless, discarded,
mundane everyday items into fine art. Gavin
Turk’s ‘PETE’ comprises a realistic painted
bronze sculpture of a squashed plastic water
bottle displayed in an elegant museum style
vitrine.
Vik Muniz is renowned for his ingenious
employment of unusual materials, including
dust, sugar, chocolate, diamonds, caviar,
toys, paper hole-punches, junk, dry pigment
and in this case, shredded magazines and
art historical materials which he uses
to create bold new imagery magnified to
a staggering scale. The works included
here are inspired by old master paintings by
artists such as Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
Velázquez and Giovanni Paolo Panini, which
are the objects of study and interpretation by
an artist who is known for his re-creations of
iconic and historically significant paintings.
Hotel Londra Palace is the official
Distribution Point of Art Review Magazine
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ROB AND NICK CARTER
(b. UK 1968; b. 1969). Their work is
centred on the boundaries between the
analogue and the digital and mediums
include camera-less photography, painting,
installation, neon, sculpture and timebased
media. Their ‘Transforming’ series
creates a unique intersection between the
art of the past and cutting edge computer
generated imagery. They are also the only
living artists to show a work at the Frick
Museum, New York. Collections include the
Frick, Pittsburgh; Mauritshuis, The Hague;
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; Victoria &
Albert Museum, London; David Roberts
Foundation, London; Städel Museum,
Frankfurt; and the Fondation Custodia,
Paris.
CLAUDE LALANNE
(1924–2019) was born in Paris and studied
architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts
and at the École des Arts Décoratifs. After
marrying François-Xavier Lalanne in
the 1960s, the two began to work closely
alongside each other and exhibited as ‘Les
Lalanne’, receiving early commissions from
TRANSFORMER
An exhibition at
Hotel Londra Palace Venice
to coincide with
the 58th Venice Biennale,
opening 6pm, 10th May 2019
SWINGING LONDRA
by Gervasuti Foundation
and Groucho Club London
Exclusive Opening Party 10th May 6pm
HOTEL LONDRA PALACE
Riva degli Schiavoni,
Castello 4171, Venice – 30122
(vaporetto stop, San Zaccaria)
GERVASUTI FOUNDATION
LONDON — VENICE
Yves Saint Laurent. The Lalannes’ work is
represented in many prominent collections
around the world, including the National
Design Museum, New York; Cooper Hewitt
Museum, New York; Musée Nationale d’Art
Moderne, Paris; Musée d’Histoire Naturelle,
Paris; and the Centre Georges Pompidou,
Paris.
VIK MUNIZ
(b. São Paolo, 1961). Exhibitions include the
International Center of Photography, New
York; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Museo
d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome; Museu de Arte
Moderna, São Paulo; Museu de Art Moderna,
Rio de Janeiro; Tel Aviv Museum of Art,
Tel Aviv; and the Long Museum, Shanghai.
Public collections include the Museum
of Modern Art (MoMA) and Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation, New York; Tate,
London; and the Museum of Contemporary
Art, Tokyo. In 2001, Muniz represented
Brazil at the 49th Venice Biennale and is
the subject of an Academy Award nominated
documentary film entitled ‘Waste Land’
(2010).
GAVIN TURK
(b. UK, 1967) has pioneered many forms
of sculpture, including the painted bronze,
the waxwork, the recycled art-historical
icon and the use of rubbish in art. His
installations and sculptures deal with issues
of authorship, authenticity and identity.
Turk’s work was included in several YBA
exhibitions in the 1990s and has since
been exhibited by major international
institutions. Public collections include Tate,
London; Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A),
London; and the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA), New York. Public sculptures in
London include ‘L’Âge d’Or’ (2016) at the
Olympic Park and ‘Nail’, next to St Paul’s
Cathedral.
THE GERVASUTI FOUNDATION
London-Venice is a platform dedicated to
interdisciplinary cultural production aiming
to re-enhance this historic city’s cultural
and social life through their innovative
‘Preservation-Through-Change Project’.
THE GROUCHO CLUB
is a world-renowned arts & media private
members club, based in Soho, London.
Created in the 1980’s by a group of mostly
femele publishers as an antidote to the stuffy
gentlemen’s clubs.
THE HOTEL LONDRA PALACE
in Venice combines the charm and luxury of
a historic hotel with modern comforts and
the latest technological services. The hotel
is located in the heart of the city center on
the Riva degli Schiavoni overlooking the
stunning San Marco Basin.
BEN BROWN FINE ARTS
has the sole UK representation of artists
Ron Arad, Tony Bevan, Rob and Nick Carter,
Candida Höfer, Claude & François-Xavier
Lalanne, Heinz Mack, Vik Muniz, Gavin
Turk and Not Vital. The gallery is also
renowned for its strong expertise in 20th
century Italian art, exhibiting the work of
Alighiero Boetti and Lucio Fontana, amongst
others, since its inception. Ben Brown Fine
Arts Hong Kong was the first Western
gallery to open in the iconic Pedder Building,
offering a programme of international art
exhibitions tailored to the Asian market.
JAMES PUTNAM
is an independent curator and writer
and former founder curator of the British
Museum’s Contemporary Arts and Cultures
Proramme. He is currently Senior Research
Fellow, Exhibitions at the London College of
Fashion, University of the Arts, London and
chief curator of the Gervasuti Foundation
ART REVIEW
is the world’s leading
independent magazine of contemporary art.
Its sister magazine Art Review Asia focuses
on art happening in Asia and Asian. It
publishes it’s celebrated Power 100 list
which is the magazine’s annual ranking of
the international contemporary artworld’s
100 most in influential people.