The Artspace Art for Life Interview with Barry Schwabsky
Bernar Venet
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Bernar Venet is a visual artist. In 1958, he joined the Villa Thiole in Nice and then became assistant set designer at the Opera of Nice. In 1966, he moved to New York where he painted and sculpted mostly wood and steel. His steel sculptures (or “Indeterminate Lines”) were exhibited in many urban spaces across France and worldwide. Lines, in all their different forms (straight lines, curved lines, broken lines and indeterminate lines), have punctuated Venets’s work since the sixties. Constructed from infinite points, these lines are the foundation of his work. A formalist, Venet created several variations on points: torch-cut steel points, drawn points, or in points in prints, illustrating the artist’s portfolio of poetry, etc. Between the points—the abstract idea—lines take hold of the viewer’s eye.
Venet has shown his work consistently since 1964 including Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Special Project at PS1, Long Island City, New York, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia, Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva, Switzerland, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France and Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, …
Bernar Venet is a visual artist. In 1958, he joined the Villa Thiole in Nice and then became assistant set designer at the Opera of Nice. In 1966, he moved to New York where he painted and sculpted mostly wood and steel. His steel sculptures (or “Indeterminate Lines”) were exhibited in many urban spaces across France and worldwide. Lines, in all their different forms (straight lines, curved lines, broken lines and indeterminate lines), have punctuated Venets’s work since the sixties. Constructed from infinite points, these lines are the foundation of his work. A formalist, Venet created several variations on points: torch-cut steel points, drawn points, or in points in prints, illustrating the artist’s portfolio of poetry, etc. Between the points—the abstract idea—lines take hold of the viewer’s eye.
Venet has shown his work consistently since 1964 including Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Special Project at PS1, Long Island City, New York, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia, Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva, Switzerland, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France and Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany.
Courtesy of Bernard Chauveau
Born 1941
Hometown Château-Arnoux, France
Lives and Works New York and France
Education
La Villa Thiole, Nice, France, 1959
Ecole Libre and Groupe Scolaire Paul Lapie, Saint-Aubon, France, 1958
Permanent Collection
Akron Art Institute, Akron, OH
Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Fond d'Art Contemporain des Musées de Nice, Nice, France
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
He Xiangning Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Ho-Am Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
Ilshin Spinning Company, Seoul, Korea
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Kultur Speicher, Würzburg, Germany
Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris, France
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Dunkerque, Dunkirk, France
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland
Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Comtemporain, Nice, France
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Musée du Québec, Québec, Canada
Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Musée national d'Art moderne de Liège, Liège, Belgium
Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, France
Musées Royaux de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum Sztuky W. Lodzi, Lodz, Poland
Person's Weekend Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongbuk, Korea
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT
Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Yuanta Financial Holdings, Taipei, Taiwan
Representing Galleries
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
Works Available for Purchase
No works
