Press Release - Marlborough Gallery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact: Tiana Webb Evans, Nadine Johnson & Associates
212.228.5555 or [email protected]
OCTOBER 31, 2011
AND
PRESENT
LE CABINET DE CURIOSITÉS
NOVEMBER 15, 2011 – FEBRUARY 29, 2012 | NEW YORK MERCANTILE EXCHANGE, 6 HARRISON STREET
NEW YORK, NY - Marlborough and Steinitz
galleries are pleased to announce the opening of
Le Cabinet de Curiosités, conceived and curated
by
, opening on Saturday,
November 12th in the former headquarters of
New York Mercantile Exchange at 6 Harrison
Street. Le Cabinet de Curiosités is a unique,
art converges with 18th- and 19th-century
time and categorization. Le Cabinet de Curiosités
presents work by Marlborough artists
W Despont, Manolo Valdés and the late
Claudio Bravo, as well as rare antique furniture
from the Steinitz Collection
will continue through February 29, 2012.
though individually diverse, are rooted in
veil of historical reference and trompe l’oeil.
Despont’s assemblage sculptures, such as
exhibition centerpiece MS 25 (2011), are made
of found objects and tools and resemble insects
and fantastical creatures with metal bodies
covered with the patina of a forgone age. His
Nebula paintings of imaginary planets and
orbs, and an astronomer’s cabinet create a room
with artistic imagination.
dimensional interpretations of Matisse, Velázquez
and Picasso’s works, incorporating contemporary
reference into classical presentation. Also
included in the show are Valdés’ Libreria series
(2010), which look like bookcases, ordinary from
afar, but upon closer inspection are derived from
segments of blank, raw, exotic woods, coyly
implementing trompe l’oeil to comment on
the use of books as fetish objects of aesthetic
Le
Cabinet de Curiosités, seducing the viewer
into a domestic familiarity, and then abruptly
disorienting them.
Claudio Bravo’s hyperrealist works present
the most traditional trompe l’oeil technique
in the show. His depictions of creased and
crumpled paper and of the backs of paintings,
some wrapped, invoke beauty, life and emotion
in otherwise mundane objects. Works such
as Four Blue Papers (2011), exemplify this
transformative mastery of painting, putting
forth a warmth and level of detail transcending
even the most precise photorealist. Le Cabinet
de Curiosités
of Claudio Bravo’s work.
With Le Cabinet de Curiosités, Despont utilizes
his expertise in both art and architecture to
present a completely integrated environment.
Century boiseries from Steinitz’s collection.
Despont’s use of historical and period rooms
is a multi-sensory layered experience that is
meant to evoke a sense of wonder and fantasy
- a place in which an object can be viewed and
experienced both contextually and individually.
Among the furniture and architectural materials
featured in Le Cabinet de Curiosités by Steinitz
Gallery are an Empire Table, dated 1810, in
which Napoleon Bonaparte etched out his
battle plans, and the Hercules Table (17701785) decorated with Hercules attributes (clubs,
lion skin and chains) created for Philippe
Marquis de Segur, Marechal de France. Since
its founding in 1968 by Benjamin Steinitz’s
father, Steinitz Gallery has been internationally
recognized for its eclectic collection of rare
objects and talent for the theatrical display
of its discoveries that span the Middle Ages
through the 20th Century. Its premises, an
entire hôtel particulier from the 19th Century,
is located just across the hotel Bristol at 77 rue
du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris.
Marlborough and Steinitz will be open to the
public at 6 Harrison Street, 2nd Floor, New
York, NY 10003, from November 15th through
January 31st. Exhibition hours are 11am-5pm,
Tuesday through Saturday.
-- About the Artists -is an architect, designer
and artist who lives and works in New York.
Despont has been represented by Marlborough
Gallery since 2002 and has shown his work in
New York, Paris, London, Monaco and Buenos
Aires.
Despont is a graduate of the École Nationale
Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, and holds a
Master’s Degree of Urban Design and City
Planning from Harvard University. Among
his many spectacular public projects are the
Centennial restoration of the Statue of Liberty,
New York, the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue,
New York, and Claridge’s and Dorchester
Hotels in London. Despont is a recipient of the
prestigious honors of the Chevalier de l’Ordre
National de la Légion d’Honneur and Chevalier
de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
His artwork has been seen in numerous solo
and group exhibitions, including shows at
Marlborough Chelsea and London. Recent
projects include an exhibition of sculpture
at Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Istanbul and a
solo exhibition in Venice during the 2011
Venice Biennale. One of his “Cabinets” is in
Museum.
Manolo Valdés is one of the most important
and respected Spanish artists working today.
Best known for his passion for past masters from
Zurbarán to Velázquez, Matisse to Lichtenstein,
Valdés uses their work “as a pretext” to create an
entirely new aesthetic object.
Valdés has won numerous awards and
represented Spain at the Venice Biennale. His
work has been exhibited at the Guggenheim
Bilbao; and in 2010, he opened a public
art exhibition, Manolo Valdés: Monumental
Sculpture on Broadway, where sixteen sculptures
were displayed in New York City on Broadway
from Columbus Circle to 166th Street. Valdés’
work is in the permanent collections of the
Museum of Modern Art in New York City,
Massachusetts; Musée Picasso, Antibes, France,
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre
Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; as well as a
number of museums in Spain and Germany.
Claudio Bravo was a Chilean painter who lived
and worked in Morocco and was represented by
Marlborough Gallery for three decades. His
work may be found in collections of museums
around the world including the Baltimore
Museum of Art, Maryland; Ludwig Museum,
of Art, New York; Museo Nacional de Bellas
Arte, Santiago, Chile; Museum Boymansvan Beunigen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands;
Museum of Modern Art, New York;
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; and
Contemporary Art, Mexico. Bravo’s work was
exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2007, the
prestigious Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in
2004 and in a number of major art institutions
throughout the world.
In 1996 Bravo received the prestigious Gold
Medal of Honor from Casita Maria settlement
house of New York, in 2000 he received the
“Art Miami International Distinguished Artist
Award” and in 2005 he was inducted into the
Pastel Society of America’s Hall of Fame.
Marlborough Gallery, Inc. | 40 West 57th Street | New York, NY 10019 | t. 212.541.4900 f. 212.541.4948 | www.marlboroughgallery.com | [email protected]