Bernar Venet

BERNAR VENET (Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, France, 1941).
"Arcs: Uneven Angles." 2017.
Portfolio of two etchings.
Signed and numbered.
Edition of 30 copies.
Measurements: 202,5 x 134 cm each.

"Arcs: Uneven Angles" affirms the line as the absolute protagonist of Bernar Venet's language: an elemental form converted into energy, tension and visual structure. The portfolio is made up of two large-format etchings in which the artist develops his characteristic beams of black, curved and angular lines, suspended on a white background of extreme purity.

Since the mid-seventies, Venet has made the line the center of his artistic research, in sculpture as well as in drawing and graphic work. In his hands, this geometric element ceases to be a stable or purely mathematical form to acquire weight, movement and an almost physical dimension. The lines seem to rise, tilt or group in unstable structures, articulating a space of great conceptual intensity.

The strength of the whole lies in the relationship between order and disorder, calculation and indeterminacy. In one of the pieces, the arches unfold with a vertical and contained cadence; in the other, the lines cross and concentrate in a more dynamic, almost architectural composition. This duality reinforces the coherence of Venet's work between diverse supports and his constant research on geometry, space and energy.

Because of its monumental scale, its reduced edition and the precision of its formal language, "Arcs: Uneven Angles" is a particularly representative example of Bernar Venet's graphic production and of the major conceptual axes that run through his work.

Bernar Venet is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary French artists. Linked to conceptual art since the sixties, he has developed a wide production in sculpture, drawing, painting, engraving, installation, music and performance. His work is characterized by the use of lines, arcs, angles and mathematical formulas as plastic and conceptual elements. He has carried out important public projects in Europe, the United States and Asia, and his work is represented in institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the MoMA in New York, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain in Nice.