Michael Venezia «Versions»

Häusler Contemporary Zürich is pleased to announce its second solo
exhibition of Michael Venezia. With several works that have not been
seen for a long time, the show again reveals his fundamental
contribution to the renovation of painting after 1960. At the same time,
an exhibition at Kunstverein Heilbronn also honors Venezia’s impact, as
well as a new extensive publication published by Snoeck that was
realized in cooperation with Häusler Contemporary.
Our second solo show of Michael Venezia (*1935, New York, US) draws a
line from his cutting-edge pictorial inventions from around 1970 to recent
works, that stand out in contemporary art’s variety by their concision and
freshness. From his early years, we show «Stripe Paintings» that examine
the independency of picture carrier and paint application. A main focus
of our exhibition is on the impressive historical «Spray Paintings» some
of which are on view for the first time in decades. At the end of the 1960s,
the color spray gun allowed Venezia to abandon the brush stroke highly
celebrated by Abstract Expressionism, thus generating his paintings from
an interplay between artistic decisions and coincidences. Finally, we
present recent «Bar Paintings» with which the artist pushes the
boundaries between painting and object.
Our exhibition thus recollects Venezia’s essential role as a «co-author» of
painting’s renovation history after 1960. The artist developed his very
specific approach In the sequel of Abstract Expressionism and
surrounded by Minimal and Conceptual Art whose representatives like
Dan Flavin, Robert Ryman or Sol LeWitt were friends of Venezia’s. His art
presented itself as kind of a synthesis and progression of the mentioned
tendencies in the classic medium of painting. Amidst a climate that
favored sculpture and installation, Michael Venezia confessed himself
passionately to painting. Ever since he relentlessly challenged the
possibilities and limits of this genre.
Coinciding with our show, an extensive exhibition at Kunstverein
Heilbronn also honors Michael Venezia. Both presentations are
accompanied by a new monograph that provides a first general overview
of the artist’s oeuvre and outlines his art historical importance in an
interview by art historian Tiffany Bell. The book was realized in
cooperation of the galleries Greta Meert and Häusler Contemporary and
will be published in February 2016 by the art book press Snoeck.