Lawrence Weiner
"Inherent Innate Tension"
Marian Goodman Gallery
New York, 24 West 57th Street
A central figure in the emergence of Conceptual art in United States during the ‘60s, Lawrence Weiner has garnered immense recognition and acclaim with his wall stencils in which the gnarly paths of poetic language occupy gallery and museum interiors. Covering interior architectures of historic or cutting edge spaces with texts in his signature font and color tones, the South Bronx-born artist’s installations challenge the limits, and limitedness, of artistic expression. Stemming from his 1968 declaration Statement of Intent—featuring three principles that suggest “the artist may construct the piece; the piece may be fabricated; the piece need not be built”—Weiner has been subverting the materialistic essence and conceptual value of the artwork.
Lawrence Weiner, BUILT TO MAINTAIN, THE INNER EDGE OF A CUL-DE-SAC BUILT TO REPLACE THE OUTER EDGE OF A CUL-DE-SAC, 2009
Inherent Innate Tension, his newest New York gallery exhibition, blankets Marian Goodman Gallery’s walls, and floors, with his signature visual aura. Implanting particles of ideas into his audience’s perception, Weiner triggers alternative modes of seeing and thinking through equally subliminal and witty lines such as BUILT TO MAIN THE INNER EDGE OF A CUL-DE-SAC or THE BOULDERS ON TOP RENT & SPLIT. Their grand scales, captivating fonts, and fluid meanings absorb the viewer into a realm of possibilities, initiated by the self-taught artist’s complex language, yet later constructed distinctively by each viewer for experience.
While the exhibition coincides with solo exhibitions at Milwaukee Art Museum and the Perez Art Museum, Weiner, after five decades in his career, is more active than he has ever been, participating in group exhibitions around the globe in different destinations such as Copenhagen, Gent, London, and Ontario. “Art is still about the communication of one human being’s observations to another human being with the intent of bringing about a change of state,” explains Weiner.
Lawrence Weiner: Inherent Innate Tensionruns through April 22nd.
