MELODRAMA Combines the Riches of Materiality and Imagination in Sculpture
Following on from the show in their London Gallery, Luxembourg & Dayan present the second part of their two-part exhibition MELODRAMA in their New York gallery space
Vincenzo Gemito's 19th century wax Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi will face off against Jeff Koons' Italian Woman, a stainless steel rendering of the risqué character Lucia Mondella from Alessandro Manzoni's 1827 novel The Betrothed. Engaged in silent dialogue, these busts proclaim a lingering drama since departed; Verdi's operatics and Mondella's seduction are preserved, though perhaps vacated. Another duet follows: Urs Fischer's Untitled—a chair held by disembodied hands—plays counterpoint to Richard Serra's Hand Catching Lead, which chronicles the artist's repeated attempts to clasp pieces of lead as they plummet past him. In a crossing of two-and three-dimensional media, the uncanny, suspended stillness of Fischer's sculpture is cut through by the gravitational momentum of Serra's film—instigating a movement between grounding and uncertainty.
MELODRAMA was conceived in collaboration with curator Francesco Bonami with the aim to examine structures of exaggerated narratives and performativity in the medium of sculpture. Following the gallery's recent survey of Alberto Giacometti's pre-war sculptures in London, and a show of César's works from the 1960's in New York, MELODRAMA is the third exhibition in Luxembourg & Dayan's season of sculptural investigations, a project that traces the blurry line that lies between materiality and imagination in the realm of sculpture.
MELODRAMA ACT 2
14 JULY - 17 SEPTEMBER 2016
64 EAST 77TH STREET NEW YORK NY 10075
P +1 212 452 4646 F +1 212 452 4656 INFO@LUXEMBOURGDAYAN.COM
IMAGE: Urs Fischer (b. 1973)
Untitled, 2006-2014
Silicone, found chair, shellac
34 1/8 x 18 x 24 in.
(86.7 x 45.7 x 61 cm)
