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About this Exhibition
Bernar Venet has spent decades exploring painting, poetry, film, performance and sculpture, for which he is best known and admired around the world. This very intimate exhibit features a selection of previously unpublished photographs brought together for the first time in the United States. These images of icons of art in the 1960s' (Warhol, Rauschenberg, Indiana...), taken by Venet almost all by chance, are truly unique as a valuable mix of historical evidence and friendly instantaneous moments.
Venet began to take these portraits in the 1960s, first in Nice, then in Paris, and, after 1966, in New York where he has been based for the past fifty years. They rekindle the sense of adventure around an art movement that was created in solitude and friendship. Throughout the years, Bernar Venet has collected works by these artists who he knew and with whom he socialized, many of whom were his friends. These photos taken on a whim are another way to extend the collection and the community of friends that they embody.
About Bernar Venet
In 1994, Jacques Chirac invited Venet to present his Indeterminate Line sculptures on the Champ de Mars, which developed into a world tour. To date, the number of Venet’s exhibitions amounts to no less than 250. In 2008, Sotheby’s invited Venet to present 25 large-scale sculptures on the grounds of Isleworth, near Orlando, their first venture to exhibit and support a single sculptor on this scale. In 2011, he became the 4th contemporary artist to be offered the world-renowned Château de Versailles for a solo exhibition, leading the French Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp of his 22-meter vertical Arcs framing the iconic statue of Louis XIV at the entrance.
Monographs in multiple languages have been published on the artist’s oeuvre, with texts by noted art historians Barbara Rose, Donald Kuspit, Carter Ratcliff, Thomas McEvilley, Catherine Millet, Jan van der Marck and Achille Bonito Oliva, (and) among others. His work can be found in more than 70 museums worldwide, including the MoMA, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Centre Pompidou, and MOCA in Los Angeles. Venet has also received commissions for sculptures permanently installed in Auckland, Austin, Bergen, Berlin, Denver, Paris, Neu-Ulm, Nice, Norfolk, Seoul, Shenzhen, Tokyo, and Toulouse.
Venet has been the recipient of several distinguishing honors, including France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. Most recently, he received the 2013 Julio González International Prize, and the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center (ISC). Inaugurated in July 2014, the Venet Foundation aims to preserve the site in Le Muy, France, conserve the collection, and ensure that Bernar Venet’s work lives on after him.
Gallery Hours
Monday, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PMTuesday through Thursday, 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday and Saturday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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Patisserie class with Chef and Champagne
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Read MoreWe invite parents and children to gather in the children's room of our library for a magical story time in French!
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