12 Nov 2013

Joel Shapiro at L.A. Louver, Venice, CA

Venice, CA – L.A. Louver is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Joel Shapiro. The exhibition features an installation of suspended work and new freestanding sculptures that continue Shapiro's exploration of dynamic form.

The suspended work defies both gravity as well as the restrictions traditionally ascribed to sculpture. Wooden forms of varying rectilinear shapes, sizes and weights, and painted in an array of brilliant hues, hover in space. Fastened by string attached to the ceiling above and anchored from the floor below, the planks and panels are situated at contrasting angles, diagonals and heights throughout the gallery, creating a sense of movement not only in relation to one another, but also as solitary objects. Color plays an essential role in compounding this effect, adding an exuberance that reverberates beyond the forms' physicality. Although not site-specific, the installation is in direct dialogue with the architecture, but is not confined by it – a single form extends beyond the gallery space and into the reception area.

In preparation for the installation, Shapiro constructed a scale model of L.A. Louver's first floor gallery in order to envision how the forms would react in the space. According to Shapiro: 'There is no perfect arrangement. That's part of the game. You can be creative and invent something. You could take those elements, reconfigure them, and perhaps be more exciting or less exciting. It's just a moment in time.'

This is only the fourth installation by Shapiro of this scale and construction. Exhibitions of suspended work were previously held at Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, TX, 2012; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 2011; and Pace Gallery, New York, 2010. Suspended work that presaged these installations were presented at 23 Savile Row in London in 2008 (a permanent installation), and in L.A. Louver's Skyroom in 2004. The exhibition includes new freestanding sculptures by the artist in the gallery's first floor south gallery and Skyroom.

Joel Shapiro (b. 1941) received his BA and MA from New York University. Since he first began showing in the early 1970s, Shapiro has been the subject of over 150 solo exhibitions and retrospectives worldwide. Significant solo exhibitions include: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1980; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1982; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1985; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, jointly with the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, 1995-1996; American Academy in Rome, 1999; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 1999; and The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001. In 2005, his work was seen in Correspondence: Joel Shapiro/Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux at the Musée D'Orsay, Paris. Notable commissions include the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.; the United States Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, commissioned by the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE); the Communauté de Communes de l'Agglomération Orléanaise, France; 23 Savile Row, London; and the Denver Art Museum. Earlier this year, Shapiro unveiled another commission for FAPE at the Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou, China.

Shapiro has been elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of Art in 1994, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998. In 2005, the French Minister of Culture awarded Shapiro the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Shapiro's work is represented in numerous public and private collections worldwide. He was also honored at this year's Americans for the Arts, receiving the award for Oustanding Contributions to the Arts.

An online brochure has been published on the occasion of this exhibition. For more information, please visit our website: www.lalouver.com/Shapiro