For The Art Show 2016, David Nolan Gallery will present an ambitious solo exhibition of a single installation by Barry Le Va. Restaging a version of his earliest groundbreaking investigations in felt - which began in 1966 - our booth will be entirely occupied by a floor "distribution" sculpture, comprised of rolls of dark gray felt, aluminum rods, and steel ball bearings - all of which are thoughtfully scattered across the ground.
An early proponent of process art, Le Va is credited for reconceiving sculpture away from the idea of a finished object displayed on a base, instead undertaking a series of "activities" that call the viewer to mentally recreate his process, emphasizing the way in which the sculpture was made. The notion of using the architecture of the exhibition space as the creative field, in which to "perform" the creation of a given work, was an important conceptual shift that characterized the attitudes of leading sculptors of this period. A 1968 cover of Artforum, illustrating a felt sculpture, heralded Le Va's pivotal role in changing our perception of the medium.
Le Va's work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute Chicago; Dallas Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; mumok, Vienna; The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven. Le Va currently lives and works in New York City.
The presentation will be accompanied by a fully illustrated brochure, with a text by Michael Maizels, who is the author of a new scholarly book entitled Barry Le Va: The Aesthetic Aftermath, published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2015. Barry Le Va: Network is currently on view at the gallery. The exhibition continues through Saturday, March 12.
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