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Pace Live

Exhibition Walkthrough

with Curator Alfred Pacquement

Friday, Jun 2
5 PM
5 Hanover Square
London

Event Details:

Exhibition Walkthrough with Curator Alfred Pacquement
Friday, Jun 2
5 PM
5 Hanover Square
London

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Pace Gallery, London is delighted to be participating in the 2023 edition of London Gallery Weekend with a special exhibition tour by renowned French curator Alfred Pacquement, who has guest curated Lee Ufan and Claude Viallat: Encounter.

Both born in 1936, Lee Ufan and Claude Viallat have dedicated nearly seven decades to their respective practices and founded major artistic movements: Mono-ha in Japan and Supports/Surfaces in France, respectively. Despite differing geographies and contexts, Lee and Viallat are united by their rejection of traditional methods of art making and their innovative approach to materiality. This exhibition marks the first time the two acclaimed artists have been brought into dialogue with one another.

Lee and Viallat first met in Autumn 1971 when they were both included in the Biennale de Paris, an art festival showcasing young artists from around the world. In an interview conducted by Pacquement for the exhibition catalogue, Lee recalls the shock of discovering European and American art groups such as Arte Povera, Supports/Surfaces, and Anti-form: “It was undoubtedly the first time in the history of art that, concurrently, in different geographical locations, analogous tendencies were born.” Lee and Viallat kept in contact over the years, but when Lee opened his eponymous museum in Arles, France in 2022, they rekindled their friendship in earnest.

Alfred-Pacquement_3067

Photo ©Tadzio

Alfred Pacquement

Alfred Pacquement (b. 1948) is an art historian and museum curator. He is presently an independent curator and cultural consultant. He was the director of the Musée National d’art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, from 2000 to 2013. Before that he worked as a curator at the Centre Pompidou, director of Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has published numerous books and catalogues on modern and contemporary artists and has curated a large number of exhibitions. Among his recent projects he has been in charge of sculpture exhibitions at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Louise Bourgeois, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Long among others) and at the Château and Gardens of Versailles (Olafur Eliasson, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Ufan etc.). He is also the president of Fondation Bemberg , Toulouse and Musée Soulages, Rodez and a member of many national and international committees.

Lee Ufan portrait

Photo by Claire Dorn © StudioLeeUfan

Lee Ufan

Lee Ufan is recognized for his unconventional artistic processes which underscore the relationship between the viewer, the artwork, and the spaces they inhabit and for philosophical writings that challenge prevailing notions of artmaking with attention on spatial and temporal conditions.

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Claude-Viallat@P. Schwartz

Photo by P. Schwartz © Claude Viallat

Claude Viallat

Claude Viallat (b. 1936, Nîmes, France) is known for his contributions to the canon of modern painting through experimentation with texture, use of unstretched recycled fabrics, and mastery of color. A founding member of the Supports/Surfaces movement, Viallat studied at the École des Beaux-arts in Montpellier, France (1955–59), and the École des Supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris (1962–63). While there, Viallat was exposed to the work of fellow artists such as Michel Parmentier and became interested in American Abstract Expressionist painters, above all Jackson Pollock. After completing his studies in Paris, Viallat leaned into abstraction and began experimentation with the formal elements of painting. A fundamental tenet of Viallat’s oeuvre is abandonment of the stretcher, allowing all kind of displays in the exhibition space and the use of materials such as draped canvas, tarpaulin, and recycled textiles such as sheets, rugs, curtains, and nets.

  • Pace Live — Exhibition Walkthrough with Curator Alfred Pacquement, May 24, 2023