In an unprecedented gathering of works from all phases of artist Brice Marden’s long career, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will be the first stop of an exhibition of more than 50 of Marden’s paintings and the same number of drawings, opening October 29 and on view through January 15.
“Brice Marden: A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings” is organized chronologically beginning with works from the 1960s and ending with two new large-scale paintings being exhibited for the first time. The gradual, deliberate evolution of the artist’s work will become evident as the viewer follows this exhibition, as will Marden’s constant exploration of light, color and surface at every turn. The work of the first 20 years, characterized by luminous monochrome panels that first won him acclaim, will now be seen in balance with the work of the past 20 years.
In the mid-1980s, after a trip to Thailand and the Far East, Marden shifted to calligraphic gestures embedded in shimmering grounds before moving to heightened color in the 1990s and most recently.
The exhibition will be on view in The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Gallery on the sixth floor and The Paul J. Sachs Drawings Galleries on the third floor of MoMA, 11 West 53rd Street.
Gary Garrels, curator of this exhibition, has been senior curator at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles since June of 2005. The accompanying publication, Plane Image: A Brice Marden Retrospective, will feature an introduction by Garrels on the issues, development and historical place of Marden’s work; also in the catalog are scholarly essays by Richard Shiff, Brenda Richardson and Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, focusing on the artist’s work and influences throughout his career, and on his materials and processes.
The book also contains an interview with the artist conducted by Michael Duffy. With a color plate section, comprehensive chronology, exhibition history and bibliography, this monograph is the most complete book to date on Marden’s career. It is available at the museum ($60).
On Wednesday, November 1, at 6 pm, Marden and Garrels, will discuss the artist’s work and exhibition in a talk that is open to the public. On Monday, December 4, at 6 pm, Richard Shiff, John Yau and Jean-Pierre Criqui will discuss the influence of geography and culture on Marden’s work through individual presentations and a discussion moderated by Garrels.
The exhibition will travel to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (February 15 to May 13, 2007) and the Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany (June 12 to October 7, 2007).
For more information, 212-708-9400 or www.moma.org.
