Saut dans le vide ( Leaps into the Void), Harry Shunk, 1960. Shunk-Kender © Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
Exhibition
Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Réalist Performance
March 19–August 08
The Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross, Houston, Texas 77006
Pyrotechnics, exploding pigment, blowtorches, lacerated décollage, and found materials, define the radical gestures of the avant-garde movement, Nouveau Réalisme. Translated as “New Realism,” it was founded by art critic Pierre Restany and artist Yves Klein in Paris in 1960. The circle of artists formally and informally associated with the movement included Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Martial Raysse, Christo, Mimmo Rotella and Arman, among others. They believed direct and aggressive physical explorations, characterized by a paradoxical emphasis on notions of deconstruction and accumulation, and the use of discarded materials from everyday life in the tradition of Dada, achieved a more truthful understanding of modern society in a moment of rising consumerism. As proclaimed in the First Manifesto of Nouveau Réalisme, “if one succeeds at reintegrating oneself with the real, one achieves transcendence, which is emotion, sentiment, and finally, poetry.”
More info: menil.org
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The Guggenheim Fills the Void
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Piero Lissoni: Recent Architecture
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Products
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Void Light
This light fixture would look right at home illuminating the futuristic living room of a T-1000 shape-shifting Terminator. ¡Hasta la vista, Henningsen!
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Raw Mirror
Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the rawest of them all? Designer Stanley Ruiz cut this birch plywood piece to expose the unique grain of the wood, while a leather strap suspends it from the wall…
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F1 Identiflyer Document Case
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