BILL AT PITTIER

Kunsthalle Winterthur
Winterthur
2009

The thematic background for the show at Kunsthalle Winterthur was provided by two Swiss luminaries: Max Bill, icon of the Zurich Concrete art movement and pioneer of the avant-garde design in the 1950s, and Henri Pittier (1857-1950), who explored the Venezuelan landscape and who, through the creation of an immense network of national parks, fought for its conservation.

From the press release: “The wilderness of the jungle, providing living space for countless plants and animals, seems like the antithesis to Bill’s formalist and reductionist universe; for Gili, however, it is the tension that results from the combination of them both that makes him think about the possibility of an abstraction of the tropical jungle.Based on this idea of an abstract jungle, the installation turns into an artificial garden that is designed for viewing from specific viewpoints, very much in the tradition of the English garden. The large-scale paintings are integral parts within the thicket of artificially designed surroundings and wallpapers, but at the same time they stand out as solitary and autonomous objects.”

www.kunsthallewinterthur.ch

+ PDF: Exhibition Poster

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