Marc Selwyn Fine Art hosts a virtual Barry Le Va Talk on August 16, 2023 at 10am. The online event takes place in conjunction with its current solo exhibition by the artist. The panel includes: Connie Butler – Hammer Museum, Alexis Lowry – Dia Art Foundation, Chistiane Meyer-Stoll – Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Saul Ostro – a critic and independent curator, Ingrid Shaffner – Chianti Foundation, Robert Storr -Yale Art School. Moderators: David Nolan and Marc Selwyn. See below for Zoom link to register.
Barry Le Va
The artist is a renowned as a leading figure of Postminimalism alongside peers Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, Eva Hesse, and Robert Smithson, among others. Le Va’s art of the 1960s and 70s pushed the formal limits of sculpture as a medium. His practice intertwined concepts of relational space, and order versus chaos. In addition, he had a preoccupation with what remains as “evidence” after actions and events. A fan of Sherlock Holmes, Le Va often compared the interpretation of his sculptures to gathering evidence in a forensic investigation.
On view in the main gallery is Untitled (Chalk Inverse), 1969, one of his rarely exhibited powder dispersal works. The artist uses the measurements of the entrance to the exhibition to delineate a square of negative space. Therefore, the architecture of the gallery is then bisected linearly, resulting in a geometric figure formed with layers of white chalk. Le Va’s powder works elegantly distill the artist’s intention “to eliminate sculpture as a finished, totally resolved object…to eliminate a sense of wholeness and concentrate on parts, fragments, incomplete activities and structures.”
Barry Le Va Background
Originally trained as an architect, Barry Le Va (1941-2021) was born in Long Beach, CA, and attended California State University, Long Beach. However, his determination to “create work on my own terms” soon led him to the art department. He transferred to the Los Angeles College of Art and Design then moved on to LA’s Otis Art Institute. Here, he received a BA and an MFA in 1964 and 1967 respectively. Then he had his first solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974 followed by a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1976. By the late 1970s, Le Va relocated to New York City where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.
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On view: July 22, 2023 – August 26, 2023
What: Art talk
Where: Marc Selwyn Fine Art, 9953 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, 90212
When: August 16, 2023, 10:00am
Website: https://www.marcselwynfineart.com/
