“Venice, CA — L.A. Louver is pleased to announce an exhibition of painting and sculpture by venerable artist Mark di Suvero. Known the world over for his monumental public works, the exhibition features a selection of the artist’s smaller-scaled sculptures, made between 1990-2019, presented alongside a new series of colorful, abstract paintings. Movement, both physical and implied, pervade the works on view in the first floor gallery. Comprised of steel, stainless steel and cor-ten steel, di Suvero conceives the sculptures to spin and sway with a slight touch of the hand. Curious and
engaging, the sculptures convey a sense of grace and weightlessness that defies the rigid and dense materials of their making. In “Untitled” (2019), the largest and most recent work in the exhibition, a base structure made from angular cut-out pieces of raw steel rests on the floor. From its raised point, a large stainless steel pinion-like form is perfectly balanced, and when gently pushed, the silver shape pirouettes with a transcendent elegance. “After 60 years, I’m still doing it with my hands,” says the 86-year-old artist. “I cut the steel. I weld it. I put it together.” Only one sculpture,
“Blue Flame” (1998-2011), is stationary. While its elements are fixed, the work breathes with fluidity and movement – its gnarled centerpiece, a striking blue “flame,” is ablaze against the raw steel frame in which it sits.
A selection of brilliant abstract paintings by the artist accompanies the sculptures. Like the sculptures, his paintings are never still. Created with dazzling colors in dense layers of linear and freeform gestures, they project a swirling sensation akin to the twirling movement in his three-dimensional works. Accented with phosphorescent paints, the works luminesce and reverberate even in the absence of light (and are especially dazzling when activated by black lights installed throughout the gallery space). “The heart of art is the search for form that is electrifying, that gives life to
our vision,” explains di Suvero. “This is the language of emotion. Anesthetic is to kill feeling. Aesthetic is the opposite, aesthetic is feeling. The thing that is most important is the dream, the vision for what doesn’t exist that could exist.” – per website

– for more information on additional images from this event please contact EMS at [email protected] or Instagram at @ericminhswenson