Förg in Venice

Promoter: Dallas Museum of Art

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is collaborating with the artist estate on an exhibition of works by Gunther Forg (I9S2-20I 3) at the historic Palazzo Contarini Polignac in Venice. It follows on from the survey show, ‘Gunther Forg: A Fragile Beauty’, which took place in Dallas in 2008, and brings together aver 30 pieces from the artist’s multidisciplinary practice- focusing on his paintings and lesser known sculptural work- to reflect on the expansive and intuitive methods of this manifold, intellectual artist.

The exhibition provides an in-depth understanding of Forg’s aesthetic and conceptualist concerns, not only with respect to his artistic output, but also concerning the context in which his work is displayed. Forg considered the space, the placement and the positioning of his work as inherent to the work itself. By installing Forg’s artworks broadly adhering to modernist traditions against the ornamental interiors and Renaissance architecture of Palazzo Contarini Polignac, the exhibition dissects and discusses the legacy of aesthetic modernism, an ideal central to Forg’s practice, in a space replete with history an d craftsmanship. Rather than a formal exhibition, the presentation is to be viewed as an atmospheric staging of works in an intimate, private setting, evoking a melancholy and romanticism not usually associateci with Forg’s oeuvre.