Anselm Kiefer, Detail of Steigend steigend sinke nieder (rising, rising, falling down), 2009-2012, resin, plaster, asphalt, concrete, stones and metal, 242 1/8 x 669 5/16 x 313 inches © Anselm Kiefer. Photo © White Cube (Charles Duprat)
THE MARGULIES COLLECTION AT THE WAREHOUSE
JANNIS KOUNELLIS PAINTINGS, 1983 - 2012
OCTOBER 19, 2016 THROUGH APRIL 29, 2017
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse will present an exhibition by prominent European artist, Jannis Kounellis. Open to the public on October 19, 2016, the show will feature seven seminal works spanning 29 years of work, from 1983 to 2012. Five of the works are new to the collection and never before exhibited in the United States. Kounellis is known as the legendary figurehead of the Arte Povera movement, pioneering the use of humble materials in art in 1960 Italy. In an attempt to create a new sculptural language that dismantled the dichotomy between art and life, artists associated with the movement used everyday, ubiquitous materials such as burlap, iron ore, wood, clothing, furniture and even live animals. Curator and critic Germano Celant proclaimed, “the guerilla war, in fact, has already begun,” as these artists and their revolutionary spirit overturned the traditional artistic conditions of preciousness and permanence, and called for a reconsideration of the role of the artist and the function of art in a changing world.
Along with Kounellis, the Margulies Collection has been collecting important works by Arte Povera artists including Pier Paolo Calzolari, Pistoletto, Mario Merz and Alighiero Boetti. “We are proud to be the first in the United States to show this extensive body of work,” says Katherine Hinds, curator. “We see this exhibition as a fulfillment of our mission at the Warehouse to produce powerful exhibitions of seminal work by the greatest artists of our time.”
NEW ANSELM KIEFER INSTALLATION
STEIGEND STEIGEND SINKE NIEDER, 2009 - 2012
NOVEMBER 28, 2016 THROUGH APRIL 29, 2017
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse is pleased to announce the addition of a new, large-scale installation by Anselm Kiefer. Over the summer, a new room and redesigned entrance to the Warehouse were created specifically to accommodate this new work. This massive installation has never been exhibited before. Since 2009, it has remained a work in progress at Kiefer’s studio in Croissy-Beaubourg, France. Collector Martin Z. Margulies and Curator Katherine Hinds visited the artist’s studio earlier this year and immediately determined to add this striking work to the already extensive holdings of Kiefer on permanent display at the Warehouse. “Last year, our unique collection of Kiefer installations received tremendous response,” says Margulies. “When I saw this work in Kiefer’s studio, I felt it perfectly complimented both the impressive size and power of the other installations in the collection.”
Steigend steigend sinke nieder is characteristic of Kiefer's work, employing an accumulation of natural and industrial materials to result in a work of complex and tactile materiality. Long-stemmed sunflower stalks, painted bone white, are suspended upside down from the ceiling. Underneath, rugged slabs of broken asphalt, concrete, earth and stone, along with bent strips of
rusty metal wire, spill out over the floor. These materials – salvaged from the demolition of the historic street in Paris, Rue des Archives – lay strewn, as if remnants of a natural or man-made disaster. The events of war and the implications on the landscape have long occupied the artist. Whether drawing on religious or spiritual sources, or in this case, German literature, the artist seeks to show that the landscape can be transformed. The title, Steigend steigend sinke nieder is a direct reference to Goethe’s Faust.
One of Kiefer’s most prominent motifs is change through alchemy. In this work, the change appears in the form of sunflower stalks stretching down towards the rubble, suggesting that where the Earth has been destroyed, flowers might appear.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
JASON SCHMIDT, ARTISTS SERIES
OCTOBER 19, 2016 THROUGH APRIL 29, 2017
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse is pleased to present New York photographer Jason Schmidt’s Artists, a dynamic series of over 135 color photographs on exhibit at the Warehouse through April 29, 2017.
Artists is Jason Schmidt's ongoing photographic documentation of today's most significant artists. From young to old, emerging to career peeking, world famous or as-of-yet-unknown, the over 600 artists that Schmidt has photographed since 1996 serves as an incisive and intimate rendering of the art world as it stands today. By capturing the artists in their studios or work environments, the images reveal the context in which the work was made and supplies a keyhole into the creative process. The strength of this artists series lies not solely in its individual compositions but in its value as a comprehensive archive of contemporary artistic practice.
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
In addition to our feature exhibitions, the warehouse houses permanent installations of historically significant works by Pier Paolo Calzolari, John Chamberlain, Willem de Kooning, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Donald Judd, Anselm Kiefer, Jannis Kounellis, Isamu Noguchi, Michelangelo Pistoletto, George Segal, Richard Serra, Tony Smith and Franz West.