The energy in Venice during the Biennale is glittering with creativity, a product of the timely artworks that pepper the city inside and outside the Pavillions. This year's Biennale title “Foreigners Everywhere,” felt especially apt: in a port city that sees an influx of art tourism on the occasion of the Biennale, foreigners– drawn to Venice by the promise of inspiration– are indeed, everywhere.
The 2024 Biennale prompted us to reexamine the concept of a “foreigner” in our global world. We considered this question during a visit to “Willem de Kooning e L’Italia” at Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Taking de Kooning’s time spent in Italy during the years 1959 and 1969 as a point of departure, the curators argue for the impact of this period on the artist’s larger practice, exhibiting over 70 works that span the length of de Kooning’s career. This body of work offered us a newfound perspective on de Kooning, as well as on the work of Lyra artists Donna Huanca, Hangama Amiri, and Alejandro Cardenas. Each of these three artists refers to their diasporic identity in their work, pressing upon the question of what it means to be a “foreigner” today.
The artist has long been associated with a uniquely masculine version of modernism, but the presentation designed by curators Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato highlighted a tender lyricism also present in the work of Lyra artists Donna Huanca, Hangama Amiri, and Alejandro Cardenas.”
At age 65, de Kooning began experimenting with the medium of sculpture. While in Rome in 1969, he was exposed to a small foundry and created a number of bronze works in an expressive, almost brutalist style reminiscent of the assertive mark-making of his Women series from the early 1950s. De Kooning’s experimentation with a new medium resulted in energetic figures, like “Hostess,” from 1973. Placed prominently in the show, the sculpture is tactile and emotive, with a dynamic fluidity traceable through the artist’s larger oeuvre. The work brought to mind the painted steel sculptures of Bolivian-American artist Donna Huanca, who uses her work to explore ritual Andean narratives. Huanca’s “ANATOMY OF PLACENTA” becomes a totem that schematizes the human body with a similar tactile quality to de Kooning’s figures; a product of its dimensional surface that recalls skin, breasts, and clothing.
ANATOMY OF PLACENTA
Donna Huanca
Oil on steel. 101 x 33 x 28 cm.
Works like Hostessin de Kooning’s signature expressionistic style have long been associated with a uniquely masculine version of modernism, but the presentation designed by curators Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato highlighted a tender lyricism also present in the work of Lyra artist Alejandro Cardenas. The same gestural fluidity of “Hostess,” influenced by de Kooning’s time in Rome, is evident in Cardenas’ lithe, humanoid silhouettes. With works like “The remaining half of the Crandon Gateway,” the Chile-born Cardenas offers a window into his post-human world, whereby his poetic, dynamic forms integrate seamlessly into their amorphous environments.
Hostess (Bar Girl)
Willem de Kooning
De Kooning’s painting “Pirate (Untitled II)” from 1981 measures over 7 feet tall, and while the scale is massive, the gentle ribbons of color create a uniquely intimate composition, with evocative forms that gesture towards the feminine. The colorful, immersive work recalls Lyra artist Hangama Amiri’s textile “paintings” made from satin, chiffon, silk, and muslin. For “Eid,” Amiri uses wallpaper, tulle, velvet, and other materials to depict a whimsical table brimming with sweets, snacks, and festive drinks. In much the same way, de Kooning uses bright colors and organic forms that dance across the canvas for “Pirate (Untitled II),” exhibiting a buoyant, airy quality characteristic of his later work.
The remaining half of the Crandon Gateway
Alejandro Cardenas
Watercolour, gouache, and acrylic on canvas. Framed 60.96 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.)
Willem DeKooning e L’Italia is on view through September 15th. The insightful exhibition establishes expressionist threads that extend through to the contemporary period, tracing them back to a powerfully influential time when de Kooning found himself a foreigner in Italy.
Eid
Hangama Amiri
Muslin, cotton, polyester, dyed fabric, velvet, chiffon, wallpaper, nylon tulle, ikat-print, inkjet print on silk-chiffon, sued, paper, silk, and found fabrics. 142.24 x 106.68 cm