Works Exhibited
About
and hold the wick of mine to it
to light, and then return—
—Emily Dickinson
An exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann inspired by each other’s practices will open at Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue, on September 14, 2023. to light, and then return— marks the first time the two artists have shown together in a dedicated exhibition.
The result of an ongoing exchange between two artists who are also celebrated writers, the exhibition is titled after the final line of “The spry arms of the wind” (c. 1866), a poem written by Emily Dickinson on an envelope scrap. Informed by their mutual fascination with material transformation and themes of elegy and historical reckoning, the works on view include de Waal’s sculptural installations featuring porcelain and other materials, and Mann’s tintypes and platinum prints.
De Waal’s sculptures consist of porcelain vessels juxtaposed with porcelain tiles, platinum, silver, and blocks of Cor-Ten steel. He groups these compositions in minimalistic wall-mounted vitrines, emphasizing their status as crafted and collected objects. Some works in a black palette that are housed in freestanding vitrines have titles that allude to poems by Seamus Heaney and Osip Mandelstam. Another body of wall-mounted works in a palette of white and silver is titled after Dickinson’s letters.
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Artists
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Press
Gagosian
press@gagosian.com
Hallie Freer
hfreer@gagosian.com
+1 212 744 2313
Polskin Arts
Meagan Jones
meagan.jones@finnpartners.com
+1 212 593 6485
to light, and then return—: A Night of Poetry with Edmund de Waal, Elisa Gonzalez, Terrance Hayes, and Sally Mann
Gagosian presented an evening of poetry inside to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann, inspired by each other’s practices, at Gagosian, New York. In this video—taking the artists’ shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis as a point of departure—poets Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes read a selection of their recent works that resonate with the themes of elegy and historical reckoning in the show. The evening was moderated by Jonathan Galassi, chairman and executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
to light, and then return—Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann
This fall, artists and friends Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann will exhibit new works together in New York. Inspired by their shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis, the works included will form a dialogue between their respective practices. Here they meet to speak about the origins and developments of the project.
Axel Salto: Playing with Fire
On the occasion of the forthcoming exhibition Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto, Edmund de Waal composed a series of reflections on the Danish ceramicist Axel Salto and his own practice.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023
The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.
Sally Mann and Benjamin Moser
During the 2022 edition of Paris Photo, Sally Mann and Benjamin Moser sat down for an intimate conversation as the first event in Gagosian’s Paris Salon series, initiated by Jessie Fortune Ryan. In light of Moser’s Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Susan Sontag, Sontag: Her Life and Work (2019), recently translated into French, the two discussed the power and responsibility tied up in their respective practices of photography and writing.
Sally Mann: Vinculum
Join Sally Mann at her studio in Lexington, Virginia. Filmed at work in her darkroom and within the surrounding landscape, she discusses her exploratory approach to making and printing pictures, what draws her to the landscape of the American South, and her newest body of work, Vinculum.
News
Visit
Madison Avenue Fall Gallery Walk 2023
Saturday, October 28, 2023, 11am–5pm
New York
madisonavenuebid.org
Join Artnews and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District on an autumn walk to visit over fifty galleries that line Madison Avenue from East 57th to East 86th Streets. The Gagosian Shop, which offers an exclusive and extensive selection of artist’s books, exhibition catalogues, posters, and prints, is featuring a display dedicated to Roy Lichtenstein and offering a 10% discount on all Gagosian titles and posters. It is also the final day to see to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann inspired by each other’s practices, at the 976 Madison Avenue gallery behind the Shop.
Roy Lichtenstein display at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Artwork © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya
Reading and Talk
Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes
Moderated by Jonathan Galassi
Friday, October 20, 2023, 6pm
Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue, New York
Join Gagosian for an evening of poetry inside to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann, inspired by each other’s practices, at Gagosian, New York. Taking the artists’ shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis as a point of departure, poets Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes will share a selection of their recent works that resonate with the themes of elegy and historical reckoning that are explored in the show. Jonathan Galassi, chairman and executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, will also read from The FSG Poetry Anthology, a collection of work by more than 125 poets published on the occasion of the publisher’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Following the readings, Gonzalez and Hayes will discuss poetry’s enduring magnetism and its ability to foster dialogue in a conversation moderated by Galassi.
Left: Elisa Gonzalez. Middle: Terrance Hayes. Right: Jonathan Galassi
