Dorothy Iannone
n.b.k. Billboard
14 Sep 2023 - 03 Mar 2024
Curator: Lidiya Anastasova
Dorothy Iannone characterized her work as an “ecstatic unity,” encompassing multiple genres and media, including painting, photography, artist books, video, sound and text works, drawing, collage, and installations. In 1976, she received a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and moved to Berlin, where she remained, conveying her fondness for the city through love songs and calling it her home. Spanning six decades, Iannone’s body of work is characterized by her relentless pursuit of freedom and constant challenging of prevailing patriarchal norms. She championed equality and the free expression of love and sexuality, though she did not officially join any feminist groups. She cultivated close friendships and engaged in lively exchange with other artists without affiliating herself with any particular art movement. Iannone’s works were repeatedly censored due to their alleged pornographic content, even within the international art establishment. Her candid depictions of human sexuality show the body as the focus of both personal and public negotiation of social taboos and power dynamics. Starting in 1985, she became deeply involved in Buddhism and progressively incorporated spiritual themes of unity into her artworks. Her work On the Continuing Journey, displayed on the n.b.k. Billboard and initially produced as an n.b.k. edition, reflects her exploration of the ongoing processes of transformation inherent in life’s journey. This public display in Berlin serves as a tribute to the artist, who recently passed away.
The work of Dorothy Iannone (b. 1933 in Boston, † 2022 in Berlin) has been exhibited at numerous museums and institutions, including Kunsthalle Emden (2023); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk / Denmark (2022); Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art, Middelburg / Netherlands (2020); Kölnischer Kunstverein (2020), Cologne; High Line, New York (2018); Berlinische Galerie (2014), Berlin; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2014); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2009); Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (1997).
Dorothy Iannone characterized her work as an “ecstatic unity,” encompassing multiple genres and media, including painting, photography, artist books, video, sound and text works, drawing, collage, and installations. In 1976, she received a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and moved to Berlin, where she remained, conveying her fondness for the city through love songs and calling it her home. Spanning six decades, Iannone’s body of work is characterized by her relentless pursuit of freedom and constant challenging of prevailing patriarchal norms. She championed equality and the free expression of love and sexuality, though she did not officially join any feminist groups. She cultivated close friendships and engaged in lively exchange with other artists without affiliating herself with any particular art movement. Iannone’s works were repeatedly censored due to their alleged pornographic content, even within the international art establishment. Her candid depictions of human sexuality show the body as the focus of both personal and public negotiation of social taboos and power dynamics. Starting in 1985, she became deeply involved in Buddhism and progressively incorporated spiritual themes of unity into her artworks. Her work On the Continuing Journey, displayed on the n.b.k. Billboard and initially produced as an n.b.k. edition, reflects her exploration of the ongoing processes of transformation inherent in life’s journey. This public display in Berlin serves as a tribute to the artist, who recently passed away.
The work of Dorothy Iannone (b. 1933 in Boston, † 2022 in Berlin) has been exhibited at numerous museums and institutions, including Kunsthalle Emden (2023); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk / Denmark (2022); Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art, Middelburg / Netherlands (2020); Kölnischer Kunstverein (2020), Cologne; High Line, New York (2018); Berlinische Galerie (2014), Berlin; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2014); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2009); Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (1997).