Richard Meier "Timepieces"
A rare glimpse into the creative mind of a Pritzker Prize winning architect, Richard Meier's Timepieces is an exhibition of collages of everyday found objects, "I have all these scraps around me,” said Meier. “I like tickets, I like small pieces of paper. I don’t use magazines, so it’s mostly stuff you come in contact with. I recently got some ticket stubs from the ferry to Shelter Island and I don’t know where or when they’ll appear, but they’ll come into play at some point."
Galerie Gmurzynska is proud to present Timepieces opening on October 25, 2013. The exhibition will focus on eighty collages produced from the mid 1980s to now. In 2012 a selection of the collages was exhibited in a show of Richard Meier’s work at Cornell University.
"I have been producing collages for nearly fifty five years, many of the early ones were done during long flights or in the waiting areas at airports. Despite their inherent uniqueness layered compositions of 'found' papers, shapes and colors – these collages are very much of a piece with my architecture. As a presentation drawing is no substitute for the physical experience of architecture, visual power of the collages derives from ‘the suggestion of “space” that we do not see: small fragments of letters and pictures with their own histories, former uses and meanings.” –Richard Meier
Meier is one of the most influential architects in the world, as well as the youngest-ever recipient of the Pritzker Prize. Among his many projects known world-wide are the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, the Getty Center, Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, the Jubilee Church, Rome and the Arp Museum in Remagen-Rolandseck, Germany.
Like his architecture his collages are very clean and methodical on the surface, the images constrained by constant grit that is not changing. Within the grit however the images range from the erotic to painterly illustration. Painters such as Picasso, Cezanne and Rodchenko make their way into the collages, as do other influences such as film and opera. The works also offer deep insights into Meier’s private life. Often the collages are deeply personal and autobiographical, using everyday collected objects such as theatre and travel tickets to intimate photographs.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with documentary images and an introduction by Richard Meier, as well as an essay by Judd Tully.
Opens October 25, 2013 concurrently at Galerie Gmurzynska Zurich, Paradeplatz 2 and Galerie Gmurzynska Zug, Vorstadt 14
