15404 001

With A Line Of Graphite / Con una linea di grafite

日期
08.05.2008 | 28.06.2008
地址
Massimo De Carlo, Milano
‘WITH A LINE OF GRAPHITE/CON UNA LINEA DI GRAFITE’ is the title of the exhibition that Lawrence Weiner presents at the Galleria Massimo De Carlo – a show of sculptures based on the materiality of a pencil line. It is also the work on the entrance wall that welcomes all visitors that approach the Gallery. Weiner, one of the central figures of Conceptual art, was born 1942, in the Bronx, New York. He currently lives and works between New York and Amsterdam. The wall installations that have been a primary medium for him since the 1960s consist of words in a nondescript lettering painted on walls, which investigates the relationship between human beings and objects – most often common objects found in daily life, such as steel, iron, wood. Although this body of work focuses on the potential for language to serve as an art form, the subjects of his epigrammatic statements are often materials, or a physical action or process, as exemplified by such works as ‘MODIFIED/MODERATED WITH A LINE OF GRAPHITE’ or ‘TRACES OF GRAPHITE USED TO REPRESENT SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF ITSELF’. In 1968, Weiner created a small book entitled Statements; as the work consisted of nothing but words, there was no reason to display a physical object. Since then, the artist has continued to explore the creative possibilities of language, and he has definitely turned to language as the primary vehicle for his work. Recent retrospective exhibitions of the artist’s work have been mounted at the MoCA in Los Angeles and at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. With their almost poetic precision, his statements often resemble other forms of public written inscription, such as signage, placards, or even advertising, yet they insist on being read differently: on being read as sculptures.
Lawrence Weiner

劳伦斯-韦纳是一位美国艺术家,1942 年出生于纽约布朗克斯区。他最著名的作品是对观念艺术运动的贡献。观念艺术运动兴起于 20 世纪 60 年代,注重艺术作品背后的理念而非实物。韦纳的作品经常使用语言作为媒介,他被认为是使用文字艺术的先驱。


韦纳早期的职业生涯受到了他作为搬运工的工作以及他对纽约市不同社区的接触的影响。20 世纪 60 年代,他与激浪派(Fluxus)运动结缘,并开始尝试在艺术中使用语言。在此期间,他的重要贡献之一就是提出了自己的著名论断: “艺术家可以构建作品。作品可以是制造出来的。作品不需要被建造"。这句话概括了他对艺术观念方面的强调,即观念本身就是艺术品,可以通过各种形式来实现。


韦纳的作品通常以装置、雕塑和公共艺术项目的形式出现,所有作品都将语言作为核心元素。


在劳伦斯-韦纳的艺术生涯中,他的作品挑战了传统的艺术观念,让观众对语言和意义进行了深思熟虑的探索。


他的作品在纽约现代艺术博物馆(MoMA)、伦敦泰特现代美术馆、巴黎蓬皮杜艺术中心、毕尔巴鄂古根海姆博物馆、洛杉矶县艺术博物馆(LACMA)、芝加哥艺术学院以及华盛顿特区的赫什霍恩博物馆和雕塑园等知名机构展出。