Bernar Venet

BERNAR VENET (Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, France, 1941).
"8 Acute Unequal Angles," 2015.
Patinated steel.
Titled on one of the legs.
Attached certificate signed by the artist.
Measurements: 107 x 35 x 20 cm.

In "Unequal Acute Angles", Bernar Venet takes his uninterrupted dialogue with the minimalist tradition to a new level. He explores the line (his main theme since the seventies) as it moves through space by means of steel bars forming a variety of acute angles (of less than 90 degrees). Steel is his favorite material because of its industrial aspect and solidity. Randomness intervenes in the result of the angles and introduces an element of unpredictability to challenge underlying notions of order. The sculpture invites the viewer to contemplate the relationship between the parts and the whole, as well as the interplay between stability and movement, between full and empty, between spontaneity and determinism. It was in the mid-seventies that Venet began to place the line at the center of his conceptual research. While in a scientific context a line is a clearly defined geometric form, Bernar Venet used this simple geometric form to demonstrate divergent concepts.

Conceptual artist Bernar Venet is best known for his precise and mathematically rigorous sculptures, often made of steel. Painting, collage and charcoal are also his means of expression. Within his artistic practice, he has also carried out continuous experiments with other industrial materials, such as coal and asphalt. In the 1960s, Venet was influenced by the work of Arman and the New Realists working in Paris, and began making cardboard sculptures. A visit to New York in 1966 brought him closer to Minimalism, and he subsequently shared a studio with Arman in midtown Manhattan and interacted with artists such as Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt. In the decades that followed, the artist honed his signature style and his work came to reflect his ongoing formal artistic investigations. In 2005 he was decorated Knight of the Legion of Honor, and in 2014 he inaugurated the Venet Foundation, a museum and archive of his work. This year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of Venet's seminal work Tas de charbon (1963), made of charcoal, which heralded the beginning of his meticulous research practice.

Bernar Venet was born in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence but has lived and worked in New York since 1966. His work has explored a variety of media - sculpture, painting, photography, film, performance, music and design - but always maintaining the desire for his works to generate questions and bring something new to the art world. In 2011 the sculptor installed monumental works in the gardens of Versailles1 and in the domaine de Marly. Venet's work is part of the collection of prestigious museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garde, Washington and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. To date, he has more than 30 monumental works and public sculptures installed in cities around the world such as Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Denver. He has participated in documenta 6 and the 56th Venice Biennale. Throughout his career he has received numerous awards including the Grand Prix des Arts de la Ville de Paris, the decoration as Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and the International Sculpture Center's 2016 Lifetime Achievement.

Recent events: 2021 Major exhibition "L'hypothèse de la gravité" at the Louvre-Lens during the summer, and the RELIEFS exhibition at the Galerie der Stadt Tuttlingen in Germany. Numerous publications this year, starting with the Louvre-Lens exhibition catalog published with Skira, as well as books on the Tas de charbon (Pile of charcoal), a study of Venet's work on paper (Dessins), a catalog raisonné on the artist's entire photographic oeuvre and, finally, a book on the Venet Foundation. Year 2022: a five-month retrospective covering the artist's career from 1961 to 2021, focusing on performances, paintings and sculptures, on 8,000 m2, at the Tempelhof Kunsthalle in Berlin. A catalog of the exhibition is published by éditions Dilecta. Publication of the biography Bernar Venet. Toute une vie pour l'art, by Catherine Francblin (éditions Gallimard), and a catalog raisonné on the artist's photographic work (éditions Marval-Rue Visconti) accompanied by photographic prints in his gallery. The exhibition "Si les canards pataugent alors 5 est un nombre premier" at the Centre International de Poésie de Marseille (CIPM), curated by director Michaël Batalla, is followed by poetry readings and a conference. Exhibition at Waddington Custot (London) with Venet's work on angles. Exhibition at Kasmin (New York), where he performs the piece Accident, and for which an exhibition catalog (with a text by Maurice Fréchuret) is published. 2023 Exhibitions at Perrotin's three Parisian galleries, where Venet presents new paintings, GRIBS, works on paper, as well as a double installation of Arches in Place Vendôme (curated by Jérôme Sans), followed by lectures with Thierry Raspail, Philippe Piguet, Guy Boyer and Catherine Francblin. The Coal Pile (1963) celebrates its 60th anniversary with four presentations of it in France, at 109 in Nice (with an exhibition showing the artist's works from 1963 onwards), at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, at the Château de Montsoreau in the Loire Valley (where the artist's conceptual period will also be shown), at the Verrière de Meisenthal (alongside two imposing sculptures) and, finally, one in Luxembourg, at Ceysson & Bénétière. At the Fondation Venet, an impressive installation welcomes summer visitors: a large sculpture with a 6-meter subway structure (in collaboration with architect Charles Berthier).