For her first solo exhibition in Austria, Nathalie Du Pasquier presents a comprehensive journey through her work. On show at the Kunsthalle Wien, and curated by Luca Lo Pinto, the exhibition brings together paintings, patterns, sculptures, designs and other creations covering 35 years of her career, to construct a new understanding of her artistic development.
Born in Bordeaux, Milan-based Du Pasquier began her career in product design, becoming the youngest founding member of influential Milanese design and architecture collective Memphis at 23. In 1987, she switched her main focus to painting, and now sees herself primarily as a visual artist.
‘Big Objects Not Always Silent’ strives to see how Du Pasquier looks at still life in a fresh way, understanding how she considers and plays with the complex arrangement of forms and their spaces. Choreographed intuitively through their expressive and emotive relations, the exhibition is not structured chronologically, with Lo Pinto and Du Pasquier choosing to place pieces from completely different periods of her career side-by-side. Organised as different rooms or ‘houses’ in ‘a city’, each room presents a creative phase in order to demonstrate a natural evolution, as well as highlight recurring elements and processes in her work. ‘In the end,’ the artist says, ‘I wanted to create a “setup” with the elements collected during this long period, which could be considered as one single piece.'
Some of these include a ‘House of Drawings’, featuring works from her period as a designer in the 1980s, as well as her return to drawing in 2009; and ‘House 2’, which showcases paintings created from meticulously arranged sets of objects. The ‘streets’ of the installation city are adorned with linking pieces and carpets that Du Pasquier has designed over the years. As part of the exhibition, Kunsthalle Wien will also present a series of serigraphy workshops and tours open to the public.
A wide range of works are included, such as paintings, patterns, sculptures, designs, ceramics, carpets and other creations, from the beginnings of her career as a young designer to her segue into painting as a visual artist today
Du Pasquier and curator Luca Lo Pinto chose not to structure the exhibition chronologically, instead choosing to place pieces from completely different periods of her career side-by-side. Pictured: Citta, 1984. Right: Big Drawing, 2013
Organised as different rooms or ‘houses’ in ‘a city’, each presents a creative phase to demonstrate a natural evolution, as well as highlight recurring elements and processes in her work. Du Pasquier looks at still life in a fresh way, through how she considers and plays with the arrangement of forms
The ‘streets’ of the installation city are adorned with pieces that do not quite fit into any room, but somehow seem to link the different themes and phases
‘What bores me about the art world is the myth that art is so precious and that it should be so expensive. Art is just what you do. It is not less worthwhile to make a pattern or a carpet than a painting in the end,’ the artist says. Pictured: C.R.A.F.T., 2002
INFORMATION
‘Big Objects Not Always Silent’ is on view until 13 November. For more information, visit the Kunsthalle Wien website
Photography courtesy Kunsthalle Wien
ADDRESS
Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Vienna
TELEPHONE
43.152 1890
-
How 2024 brought beauty and fashion closer than ever before2024 was a year when beauty and fashion got closer than ever before, with runway moments, collaborations and key launches setting the scene for 2025 and beyond
-
This listed house in London is transformed through a contemporary celebration of the archSegmental House, a listed house transformation by Dominic McKenzie Architects, taps into the playful powers of the contemporary arch
-
The Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II glides into the DMs of the world’s 1 per centThe Series II version of the ‘Baby Rolls’ has slight but sophisticated revisions to keep this hefty saloon in the targets of an increasingly idiosyncratic and individualist buyer
-
Architecture, sculpture and materials: female Lithuanian artists are celebrated in NîmesThe Carré d'Art in Nîmes, France, spotlights the work of Aleksandra Kasuba and Marija Olšauskaitė, as part of a nationwide celebration of Lithuanian culture
-
‘Who has not dreamed of seeing what the eye cannot grasp?’: Rencontres d’Arles comes to the south of FranceLes Rencontres d’Arles 2024 presents over 40 exhibitions and nearly 200 artists, and includes the latest iteration of the BMW Art Makers programme
-
Van Gogh Foundation celebrates ten years with a shape-shifting drone display and The Starry NightThe Van Gogh Foundation presents ‘Van Gogh and the Stars’, anchored by La Nuit Etoilée, which explores representations of the night sky, and the 19th-century fascination with the cosmos
-
Marisa Merz’s unseen works at LaM, Lille, have a uniquely feminine spiritMarisa Merz’s retrospective at LaM, Lille, is a rare showcase of her work, pursuing life’s most fragile, transient details
-
Step into Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron's dreamy photographs in London'Portraits to Dream In' is currently on show at London's National Portrait Gallery
-
Damien Hirst takes over Château La CosteDamien Hirst’s ‘The Light That Shines’ at Château La Coste includes new and existing work, and takes over the entire 500-acre estate in Provence
-
Tia-Thuy Nguyen encases Chateau La Coste oak tree in tonne of stainless steel stripsTia-Thuy Nguyen’s ‘Flower of Life’ lives in the grounds of sculpture park and organic winery Château La Coste in France
-
Marina Abramović revisits her Energy Clothes in a piercing Vienna showMarina Abramović considers the role of the body in ‘Energy Clothes’, debuting a new photo series and installation at Vienna’s Galerie Krinzinger, open until 29 July 2023
