BERNAR VENET WINS THE 2016 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
About Bernar Venet
Born in 1941 in the south of France, Bernar Venet's attraction to art became evident at an early age. In 1966, he established himself in New York where, over the course of the next five decades, he explored painting, poetry, film, and performance and was attracted to pure science as a subject for art. During the 1960s, Venet developed his Tar paintings, cardboard Reliefs, and his iconic Tas de charbon (Pile of Coal), the first sculpture without a specific shape. Venet had his first retrospective at the New York Cultural Center in 1971. He participated in major art events such as Kassel Documenta VI and the Biennales of Paris, Venice and São Paulo. 1979 marked a turning point in Venet's career: he began a series of wood reliefs - Arcs, Angles, Straight Lines - and created the first of his Indeterminate Lines.
In 1994 Venet was invited to present his Indeterminate Line sculptures in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which developed into a world tour. To date, the number of Venet's exhibitions amounts to no less than 250. In 2011, he became the 4th contemporary artist to be offered the world-renowned Château de Versailles for a solo exhibition.
Monographs in multiple languages have been published on the artist's oeuvre, with texts by noted art historians Barbara Rose and Thomas McEvilley, among others. His work can be found in more than 70 museums worldwide, including the MoMA, the Guggenheim and Centre Pompidou. Venet has also received commissions for sculptures permanently installed around the globe.
Venet is the recipient of several distinguishing honors, including France's Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Most recently, he received the 2013 Julio González International Prize.
• Bernar Venet and his wife Diane opened a Foundation in July 2014 in Le Muy, in the south of France. The Venet Foundation aims to preserve the exceptional site in Le Muy, to conserve Bernar and Diane's art collection (one of the most important collections in the world dedicated to international minimal art) and to ensure that Bernar Venet's work lives on after him. The 2016 summer show will be dedicated to James Turrell.
• Bernar Venet will unveil Disorder 9 Uneven Angles, an 8-meter tall sculpture, in New York's Union Square on March 3. The sculpture will be on view to the public through the end of June.
• Paul Kasmin Gallery will present the artist's new series of Angles at their Chelsea gallery in New York from April 28 until June 16.
• Custot Gallery in Dubai will present the artist's work twice this spring: first in the gallery's inaugural group show, The World Meets Here, opening on March 14; and then in the gallery's first solo exhibition in May.
• In May, the city of Bonn will inaugurate a 17-meter sculpture, 89Ëš Arc x 14, commissioned specifically for their city in collaboration with the Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur.
• Bernar Venet's portraits of artists such as Warhol, Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Beuys, Broodthaers, Arman, Cesar, Raysse and Kelly will be shown in the exhibition RAW at Galerie Rue Visconti from May 12th in Paris.
• From June 12th to November 13th, his early work from 1961-1965 will be shown at Espace de l'Art Concret located in Mouans-Sartoux (south of France), while the Galeria Cayon in Madrid will dedicate both of their gallery spaces to Venet in exhibitions running from June 23rd through the end of July.