Bernar Venet

BERNAR VENET (Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, France, 1941).
"Point 18 cm", 1994-2009.
Set of two pieces in waxed steel cut with a blowtorch.
Attached certificate issued by Bernar Venet Studio Archives signed by the artist.
Measurements: 10 x 18 cm.

This work consisting of two waxed steel sculptures on the upper part of which one can read "point", was the piece chosen to illustrate the catalog of Bernar Venet's exhibition "L'hypothèse du point", which took place at the Espace Jacques Villeglé in Saint-Gratien, in the spring of 2014. For the show, Bernar Venet created a series of large sculptures, points that at first glance seem disproportionate, but which question scale and remind us that, seen from the sky, they are once again the smallest conceivable portion of space. This was the first time that an exhibition and a catalog were devoted entirely to the dots and their variations, capital works in Bernar Venet's creative corpus. In this particular piece, the artist creates a double affirmation, or reaffirmation, not only through form, but also through words. Just as Magritte played with the viewer by telling him that it was not a pipe, Venet leaves no room for doubt about the form and the idea of the point.

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 the architect Charles Berthier).