WALTER DE MARIA AT GAGOSIAN GALLERY

By Crash redaction

GAGOSIAN GALLERY AT LE BOURGET PRESENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME AN EXHIBITION OF WALTER DE MARIA

Representing a profession of faith, the exhibition pays tribute to the avant-gardism of an artist who rose to mythical status in land art and minimalism. Integrating into the surrounding landscape, Walter De Maria’s minimalist and geometric works could span many kilometers… They incite viewers to open their eyes, to go beyond a strict vision of traditional art, and to reign over a landscape that is both raw and natural. They enter into harmony with nature, following the rhythm of climate change in earth and soil. Even lightning cannot avoid contact with the 400 stainless steel bars that spiral out from the ground of New Mexico in one of his more widely known works, The Lightning Field.

Gagosian Gallery has exhibited the works of Walter De Maria with unparalleled precision. On display are two ground sculptures from the Truth/Beauty series – begun by the artist in the 90s and completed by his Estate according to his vision – and the Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle 11, as well as a collection of seven of the artist’s drawings that represent the earliest works in the exhibition. As in a mathematical equation, the gallery has scrupulously positioned each work to obtain geometric shapes. In Truth/Beauty, the fourteen sculptures arranged in seven pairs echo the artist’s methods through the transformation of bars, polygons, and digital sequences. Visible from the mezzanine of the gallery at Le Bourget, the works confront visitors through a counterclockwise progression that generates a trompe-l’oeil effect. In Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle 11, eleven bars form small rectangles that cover a 19^th-century Indian carpet on the floor of an adjacent room, recalling the 1986 exhibition that featured this same sculpture installed on an Afghan rug.

In this exhibition, the quasi-religious precision of Walter De Maria’s works sets the tone and is played up to the nearest millimeter. Here, the spacing between the different objects, their numerous sides, and the content of the hand-welded and polished materials serve to generate a particular shape and a precise and mathematical optical effect. Each of his artistic representations thus demonstrates the American artist’s ability to transform materials as rigid as stainless steel as he pleases and to deploy an infinite range of geometric shapes within a precise sequence.

WALTER DE MARIA / GAGOSIAN GALLERY / Le Bourget / Until April 20^th, 2017

www.gagosian.com

Written by Lisa Tomasi

Large Rod Series : Circle/Rectangle 11 / Walter De Maria / Gagosian / Le Bourget / October 17, 2016 – February 11, 2017

Truth Beauty / Walter De Maria / Gagosian / Le Bourget / October 17, 2016 – February 11, 2017

Truth Beauty / Walter De Maria / Gagosian / Le Bourget / October 17, 2016 – February 11, 2017

The Pure Polygon Series / Walter De Maria / Gagosian / Le Bourget / October 17, 2016 – February 11, 2017