Antoni Tàpies
From Object to Sculpture (1964–2009)
October 4, 2013–January 19, 2014
Guggenheim Bilbao
Abandoibarra et.2
Bilbao 48001
Curator: Álvaro Rodríguez Fominaya
To commemorate the first anniversary of the artist’s death, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Antoni Tàpies. From Object to Sculpture (1964–2009), the first comprehensive, in-depth survey of a fascinating facet of an artist who marked the second half of the 20th century.
Sponsored by Iberdrola, the exhibition features nearly one hundred works spanning the Tàpies’s sculpture production spanning almost five decades: from the early objects and assemblages of the 1960s and ’70s, to his more recent fire-clay and bronze pieces, including the last sculpture signed by the artist in 2009.
Objects and sculptures were central to Antoni Tàpies’s artistic development and featured heavily throughout his career, constituting a unique and autonomous body of work. According to exhibition curator Álvaro Rodríguez Fominaya, the exhibition “reveals Tàpies’s lifelong preoccupation with the sculptural problem and for the first time brings his sculpture face-to-face with itself.”
Organized both thematically and chronologically on the Museum’s second floor, the exhibition features works in a range of dimensions, from the monumental to the small. By examining the chronological continuity, themes, materials, and mediums used by the artist, viewers are offered insight into the oeuvre of Antoni Tàpies—from his idea of the wall to re-creations of commonplace objects such as chairs, beds, skulls, and books.
Antoni Tàpies. From Object to Sculpture (1964–2009) is the fourth Guggenheim exhibition dedicated to the work of one of Spain’s most international artists. The first was a major retrospective curated by Lawrence Alloway at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1962; the next was at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, curated by Carmen Giménez in 1995; the most recent was a presentation of the Permanent Collection, Chillida/Tàpies: Matter and Visual Thought at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, curated by Petra Joos in 2001 and later travelling to the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin in 2002.
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All information on the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao at www.guggenheim-bilbao.es (Press Room).
Sponsored by: Iberdrola
