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Chamberlain | Mitchell

February 8–March 9, 2013
Rome

Installation view Artwork, left and right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; center: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left and right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; center: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left and right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; center: © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left and right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; center: © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left, center, and right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; left center and right center: © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left, center, and right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; left center and right center: © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view Artwork, left and right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; center: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Installation view

Artwork, left and right: © Estate of Joan Mitchell; center: © 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Matteo D’Eletto

Works Exhibited

John Chamberlain, ACEDIDDLEY, 2008 Painted and chrome-plated steel, 86 ¾ × 55 ¼ × 53 ¼ inches (220.3 × 140.3 × 135.3 cm)© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John Chamberlain, ACEDIDDLEY, 2008

Painted and chrome-plated steel, 86 ¾ × 55 ¼ × 53 ¼ inches (220.3 × 140.3 × 135.3 cm)
© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John Chamberlain, STUFFEDWITHSURPRISE, 2011 Painted and chrome-plated steel, 84 ¾ × 45 ¾ × 40 inches (215.3 × 116.2 × 101.6 cm)© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John Chamberlain, STUFFEDWITHSURPRISE, 2011

Painted and chrome-plated steel, 84 ¾ × 45 ¾ × 40 inches (215.3 × 116.2 × 101.6 cm)
© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John Chamberlain, GOOSECAKEWALK, 2009 Painted and chrome-plated steel, 82 ½ × 45 ½ × 32 ½ inches (209.6 × 115.6 × 82.6 cm)© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Mike Bruce

John Chamberlain, GOOSECAKEWALK, 2009

Painted and chrome-plated steel, 82 ½ × 45 ½ × 32 ½ inches (209.6 × 115.6 × 82.6 cm)
© 2013 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Mike Bruce

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1992 Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 23 ½ inches (73 × 59.7 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1992

Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 23 ½ inches (73 × 59.7 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Yves, 1991 Oil on canvas, 110 ¼ × 78 ¾ inches (280 × 200 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Yves, 1991

Oil on canvas, 110 ¼ × 78 ¾ inches (280 × 200 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1987–88 Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 19 ⅝ inches (73 × 49.8 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1987–88

Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 19 ⅝ inches (73 × 49.8 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation

About

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition that juxtaposes paintings by Joan Mitchell and sculptures by John Chamberlain.

Born just one year apart in the midwestern United States, Mitchell and Chamberlain were inspired by the muscular spontaneity of Abstract Expressionists such as Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning. Mitchell is considered a principal figure in the second generation of Abstract Expressionists as well as one of its few female exponents. Her lively and impassioned paintings laud the beauty of the natural world. Chamberlain is best known for his metal sculptures constructed from discarded automobile-body parts and other modern metal detritus, where the industrial origin of materials is underscored by a cumulative formal elegance.

Mitchell worked for the most part on large-scale canvases and multiple panels, striving to evince a natural rhythm that emanated from the expansiveness of gesture and from uninhibited use of color; Chamberlain’s emphasis on discovered or improvised correlations between material and color rather than a prescribed idea of composition have often prompted descriptions of his work as three-dimensional Abstract Expressionist paintings. The painter and the sculptor share a preference for excess and spontaneity in their art making. The energetic clustered brushwork of Mitchell’s Yves (1991), Untitled (1987–88), and Row Row (1982) perfectly complements Chamberlain’s crumpled, crushed, bent, and welded ACEDIDDLEY (2008), GOOSECAKEWALK (2009), and STUFFEDWITHSURPRISE (2011), in which sweeping contours suggest an aggregate of brushstrokes.

Gagosian è lieta di annunciare una mostra che pone a confronto dipinti di Joan Mitchell con sculture di John Chamberlain.

Nati ad un solo un anno di distanza nel Midwest degli Stati Uniti, Mitchell e Chamberlain furono entrambi sensibili al gesto potente dell’Espressionismo astratto di Franz Kline e Willem de Kooning. Di questa corrente Mitchell è considerata esponente essenziale, nonchè una delle poche figure femminili. I suoi dipinti vivaci e incandescenti celebrano la bellezza del mondo naturale. Chamberlain è molto noto per le sue sculture di metallo create con carrozzerie di automobili e altri rottami metallici, il cui assemblaggio omette l’origine industriale dei materiali per rivelare un insieme formale ed elegante.

Mentre il lavoro di Mitchell è realizzato principalmente su tele di grandi dimensioni o pannelli multipli, sottolineando così il ritmo naturale che scaturisce dall’ampiezza del gesto e dall’utilizzo disinibito del colore, il punto nodale della ricerca di Chamberlain è stata invece la correlazione tra materia e colore, indagata o scoperta casualmente, senza un’idea concreta dell’esito finale. Per tale modus operandi, l'opera di Chamberlain è spesso definita come la pittura tridimensionale dell’Espressionismo astratto. Nel loro processo creativo, entrambi gli artisti prediligono l’eccesso e la spontaneità. Le pennellate energiche e dense che caratterizzano le opere di Mitchell Yves (1991), Untitled (1987–88), e Row Row (1982), si contrappongono armoniosamente alle sculture piegate ed accartocciate di Chamberlain ACEDIDDLEY (2008), GOOSECAKEWALK (2009), e STUFFEDWITHSURPRISE (2011), i cui contorni ampi e lucenti evocano un insieme di pennellate.