“Work Hard,” the graffiti
message enhancing this Lausanne public sculpture from 1945 by Pierre Blanc is the
title of Swiss Institute’s latest exhibition and curatorial debut of celebrated
artist Valentin Carron. Carron, who represented Switzerland at the 2013 Venice
Biennale, selects an exceptional range of seminal artworks combining his key homegrown
influences and inspiring contemporaries.
In a display of idiosyncratic experience, this exhibition presents a
creative discourse between artworks through Carron’s perspective, revealing shared
concerns and principles of his native country’s art. His focus on the poetics
of vernacular invokes a quirky Swiss-ness while conjuring mythologies of labor.
Furthermore, this exhibition sheds light on the aesthetic universe of Carron, providing
foundations for his visual and conceptual vocabulary and allowing insight into
a practice that combines strategies of appropriation with sculptural bravado.
Through an
individual lens, Work Hard suggests an
imaginary time and place in art history as past, present and future converge in
a narrative of national identity and art production.
Participating
artists include Edmond Bille, Vittorio Brodmann, Marguerite Burnat-Provins,
Luciano Castelli, Claudia Comte, Sylvain Croci-Torti, Latifa Echakhch, Frédéric
Gabioud, Mathis Gasser, Fabrice Gygi, Andreas Hochuli, Trix and Robert
Haussmann, David Hominal, Bernhard Luginbühl, Urs Lüthi, Fabian Marti, Méret
Oppenheim, Simon Paccaud, Mai-Thu Perret, Ugo Rondinone, Denis Savary, Daniel
Spoerri, and Jean Tinguely.
Media Contact: Dan Tanzilli / Mathilde Campergue, Third Eye dan@hellothirdeye.com / mathilde@hellothirdeye.com, +1 646-593-8713 Swiss Institute thanks each of the lenders to the exhibition: Phil Aarons and Shelley Fox Aarons; The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zürich; Galerie Kamel Mennour; Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zürich; Galerie Von Bartha, Basel; Andreas Illien; FCAC, Republic and Canton of Geneva; Kaufmann Repetto, Milano; Liz O’Brien Gallery, New York; MAMCO (Musée d’art moderne et contemporain), Geneva; Marciano Art Collection, Los Angeles.
SWISS INSTITUTE PROGRAMMING IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH PUBLIC FUNDS FROM PRO HELVETIA, SWISS ARTS COUNCIL, AND IN PART BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, WITH THE SUPPORT OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO AND THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE. MAIN SPONSORS INCLUDE LUMA FOUNDATION, FRIENDS OF THE SWISS INSTITUTE (FOSI), AND UBS. SWISS INSTITUTE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES SWISS AS TRAVEL PARTNER, AND CHELSEA HOTELS AS HOSPITALITY PARTNER, AS WELL AS AGNÈS B. SPECIAL THANKS FOR SUPPORT FOR THE EXHIBITION FROM 303 GALLERY, DAVID KORDANSKY GALLERY, KAMEL MENNOUR, AND GALERIE EVA PRESENHUBER.
All photos courtesy of Swiss Institute.
