Fred Sandback / Enrico Castellani
21 May - 17 Jul 2010
FRED SANDBACK / ENRICO CASTELLANI
Exhibition 21 May 2010 till 17 July 2010
Opening 20 May 2010
In its end-of-season exhibition the Greta Meert Gallery shows work by Fred Sandback and Enrico Castellani.
From the 1950 and 1960s onwards both artists have contributed significantly to artistic innovation by breaking new ground in painting and sculpture. The set-up of the present exhibition connects not only the works themselves, but also the specific environment of the gallery space.
The delicate line structures by Fred Sandback (1943, Bronxville, USA – 2003, New York City, USA) sculpt space in a special way. By handling the woollen yarn as the 'sculptural equivalent of a N° 2 pencil' he introduces simplicity, lightness and precision in his work. Sandback's line is both an outline of a geometrical shape and a virtual cutting line that influences existing spatial proportions and defines new spatial plans. It embodies the continuous interplay between presence and absence, form and volume, tension and harmony.
Although the relationship with the Minimal Art movement seems obvious, it is not as simple as it may appear. The 'String Sculptures' emphasize the immateriality of the pictorial means, rather than the objective character. Furthermore the installations are as minimal in structure as maximal in their spatial implications.
In 1998, 2002 and 2004 the Greta Meert Gallery presented work by this American artist. The present exhibition pays tribute to the variation in scale, form and configuration of a stringent, strongly reduced idiom. Fred Sandback’s ‘Wall sculptures’ and ‘Freestanding sculptures’ are on view, as well as selected drawings.
Enrico Castellani (1930, Castelmassa, Italy) confines himself to the space of the canvas. Since the late 1950s his work has been characterised by what are called 'Superficies' with their striking relief structure. The latter is the result of an unconventional and ingenious technique in which the canvas is stretched like a membrane on an underlying nail structure. Thus structure becomes composition in the geometrical pattern that is revealed. The rhythm of positive and negative space, emptiness and matter makes Castellani's work strikingly dynamic and direct.
The visual perception is further complicated in the interplay between light and shadow. Through the effects of the light the concept of time is incorporated. Time is both a universal and a temporal given.
On the one hand the ephemeral character of the work of art is revealed through the specific incidence of light, while on the other hand, repetition, monochromy and the immateriality of the light make the notion of infinity more explicit.
After his solo exhibitions in 1990, 1996 and 2002, Greta Meert Gallery now shows work by the Italian artist for the fourth time. Among other works, two diptychs with an impressive size (180 cm x 180 cm, and 180 cm x 240 cm) are on view on the first floor. The set-up of the exhibition is reminiscent of the artist's architectural training and the first spatial installations in the 1960s. Like Fred Sandback's sculptures these pieces invite the viewer to enter the pictorial/architectural space and absorb it
Exhibition 21 May 2010 till 17 July 2010
Opening 20 May 2010
In its end-of-season exhibition the Greta Meert Gallery shows work by Fred Sandback and Enrico Castellani.
From the 1950 and 1960s onwards both artists have contributed significantly to artistic innovation by breaking new ground in painting and sculpture. The set-up of the present exhibition connects not only the works themselves, but also the specific environment of the gallery space.
The delicate line structures by Fred Sandback (1943, Bronxville, USA – 2003, New York City, USA) sculpt space in a special way. By handling the woollen yarn as the 'sculptural equivalent of a N° 2 pencil' he introduces simplicity, lightness and precision in his work. Sandback's line is both an outline of a geometrical shape and a virtual cutting line that influences existing spatial proportions and defines new spatial plans. It embodies the continuous interplay between presence and absence, form and volume, tension and harmony.
Although the relationship with the Minimal Art movement seems obvious, it is not as simple as it may appear. The 'String Sculptures' emphasize the immateriality of the pictorial means, rather than the objective character. Furthermore the installations are as minimal in structure as maximal in their spatial implications.
In 1998, 2002 and 2004 the Greta Meert Gallery presented work by this American artist. The present exhibition pays tribute to the variation in scale, form and configuration of a stringent, strongly reduced idiom. Fred Sandback’s ‘Wall sculptures’ and ‘Freestanding sculptures’ are on view, as well as selected drawings.
Enrico Castellani (1930, Castelmassa, Italy) confines himself to the space of the canvas. Since the late 1950s his work has been characterised by what are called 'Superficies' with their striking relief structure. The latter is the result of an unconventional and ingenious technique in which the canvas is stretched like a membrane on an underlying nail structure. Thus structure becomes composition in the geometrical pattern that is revealed. The rhythm of positive and negative space, emptiness and matter makes Castellani's work strikingly dynamic and direct.
The visual perception is further complicated in the interplay between light and shadow. Through the effects of the light the concept of time is incorporated. Time is both a universal and a temporal given.
On the one hand the ephemeral character of the work of art is revealed through the specific incidence of light, while on the other hand, repetition, monochromy and the immateriality of the light make the notion of infinity more explicit.
After his solo exhibitions in 1990, 1996 and 2002, Greta Meert Gallery now shows work by the Italian artist for the fourth time. Among other works, two diptychs with an impressive size (180 cm x 180 cm, and 180 cm x 240 cm) are on view on the first floor. The set-up of the exhibition is reminiscent of the artist's architectural training and the first spatial installations in the 1960s. Like Fred Sandback's sculptures these pieces invite the viewer to enter the pictorial/architectural space and absorb it