Polish German sculptor Alicja Kwade joins Pace Gallery.
Installation view of Alicja Kwade, In Blur, 2022 at Desert X AIUIa. Photo by Lance Gerber. © Alicja Kwade.
Internationally acclaimed artist Alicja Kwade is set to join the roster of Pace Gallery, as announced by the gallery's CEO, Marc Glimcher. Kwade will be the focus of an exhibition at Pace’s Los Angeles location in May 2024, and has works in the mega-gallery’s Paris+ booth that opens to VIPs today.
Kwade’s art is recognized for its exploration of scientific and philosophical themes, often challenging traditional boundaries of perception and societal norms. In 2019, she created a commission on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which several spherical, planet-esque rocks were attached to steel structures, evoking the unknowable expanse of outer space in the center of Manhattan.
Also in 2019, to coincide with a solo exhibition at the MIT List Center, she installed Against the Run (2019), an unassuming-looking clock, in the public space outside the museum. The clock’s hands tell the time, while the number dial jerks to the left with every passing second, an examination of the arbitrary nature of timekeeping. This disorienting work is typical of Kwade’s philosophically dense, material-focused, and conceptual practice.
Portrait of Alicja Kwade by Doro Zinn. © Doro Zinn. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.
The artist has exhibited at notable institutions worldwide, including the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Pace will share representation of the artist with her current galleries Mennour, 303 Gallery, and i8 Gallery.
Glimcher expressed his enthusiasm for Kwade’s work, saying, “Alicja is an artist who reveals the unknowable...There is deep affinity with our program in the philosophical and spiritual nature of Kwade’s work, and I’m honored to welcome her to our program.”
Kwade said, “I am honored to become a part of the gallery's rich legacy that spans generations. I believe this new chapter will facilitate the growth of my artistic practice, opening up immense possibilities.”