To write does not mean to convert the real into words but to make the power of the word real.
Augusto Roa Bastos, I the Supreme1
Almine Rech Gallery New York is pleased to present Words Without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go featuring the word as an image and its metonymic relation to the motif itself. The title refers to, as Ed Ruscha put it: “a noble quotation that is as timeless as it is poetic,"2 a line said by King Claudius in act three of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In a time where the word as a written unity - i.e. the meaning of the word and the displayed word - have become highly disparate due to digital and social media, the exhibition Words Without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go points towards the actuality of a thorough examination of the word in artworks. The exhibition follows the increasing importance of words in art, starting from Modernism and leading up through the twentieth century and into today.
WORDS WITHOUT THOUGHTS NEVER TO HEAVEN GO
Curated by Dieter Buchhart
—
New York
Inquire about the exhibition:
inquiries@alminerech.com
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
Jasper Johns - Iron, 1962 - Encaustic and charcoal on wood - 24.8 x 18.1 cm; 9 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches - Photo credit: Jim Strong - © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
October 31 — December 16, 2017 • New York
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Ed Ruscha, Sunset , 1999
Acrylic on linen
20 x 24 inches (framed)
50,8 x 60,9 cm (framed) -
Mario Schifano, Untitled, 1977
Enamel on canvas
33 1/4 x 37 1/4 inches
84,5 x 94,5 cm
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Andy Warhol, Brillo Box (Soap Pads), 1964
Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on wood
20 1/8 x 20 x 17 inches
51,1 x 50,8 x 43,2 cm
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Joseph Cornell, Surréalisme, 1931 - 1932
Collage
5 3/8 x 4 inches
13,8 x 10,2 cm
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Joseph Cornell, Object (La Ruche), 1944 - 1946
Construction
5,5 x 2,9 cm
2 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches
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Ed Ruscha, Oklahoma-E, 1962
Pencil, colored pencil and charcoal on tracing paper
17 x 14 inches
43,2 x 35,6 cm -
Sol LeWitt, A point which is located halfway between the midpoint (...), 1973
Ink on cardboard, double sided drawing
19 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches
50 x 50 cm
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Robert Morris, I-Box, 1962
Painted plywood cabinet coated with Sculptmetal, containing photograph
18 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 1 5/8 inches
48 x 32 x 4 cm
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Robert Morris, Location, 1973
Lead and aluminum on board
21 1/8 x 21 1/8 x 15 inches
53,7 x 53,7 x 38 cm
Ed 5/17 -
Robert Morris, Swift Night Ruler, 1962
Mixed media wood and paint
10 x 28 1/2 x 1 inches
25,4 x 72,4 x 2,5 cm -
Alighiero Boetti, Senza titolo (Raddoppiare dimezzando, Ordine e disordine), 1980
Mixed media, collage and spray on paper laid on canvas
27,55 x 39,37 inches
70 x 100 cm -
Kurt Schwitters, MZ 245, Mal Kah, 1921
Collage and crayon
4 7/8 x 3 7/8 inches
12,5 x 10 cm
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Kurt Schwitters, Erster Platz Mz 307 Jettchen, 1921
Collage
19,7 x 14,5 cm
7 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches -
Kurt Schwitters, Untitled (875 G), 1921 / 1924
Collage, gouache, and paper on paper
10 7/8 x 8 5/8 inches
27,7 x 21,9 cm
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Kurt Schwitters, Ohne Titel (Schatzi), 1920
Collage on paper
5 1/4 x 4 inches
13,3 x 10,2 cm
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Kurt Schwitters, Gold out of Brown, 1946
Collage
11 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches
29,4 x 24 cm
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Kurt Schwitters, Sans titre 29/35, 1929
Cardboard and paper collage
9 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
24 x 19,2 cm
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Larry Rivers, The Greatest Homosexual, 1978
Pen, oil, watercolor and ribbon on paper
90 x 59 1/4 x 2 inches (framed)
228,6 x 150,5 x 5,08 cm (framed)
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Jasper Johns, Iron, 1962
Encaustic and charcoal on wood
9 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches
24,8 x 18,1 cm
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René Magritte, La Trahison des Images (The Treachery of Images), 1952
Indian ink on paper
7 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches
19 x 27 cm
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Ed Ruscha, Baked Potato, 1962
Oil, ink, and collage on paper
12 x 11 1/2 inches
30,5 x 29,2 cm -
Ed Ruscha, Steak, 1962
Oil and collage on paper
11 3/4 x 12 inches
29,8 x 30,5 cm
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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Venus, 1982
Xerox collage on canvas
8 5/8 x 5 1/2 inches
22 x 14 cm
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Ben Vautier, Je suis noir et beau, 1959
Oil on canvas
18 1/8 x 24 inches
46 x 61 cm
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Georges Braque, La caisse d’emballage, 1947
Oil on canvas
36 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches
92 x 92 cm
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Georges Braque, Fruit bowl, bottle, and glass (Compotier, bouteille et verre), August 1912 - September 1912
Oil and sand on canvas
23 5/8 x 28 3/4 inches
60 x 73 cm
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Joseph Kosuth, Four Colors Four Words, 1966
Violet, red, yellow, blue neon mounted directly on the wall
3 7/8 x 77 1/2 inches
10 x 197 cm
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Kurt Schwitters, Mz 26,45 Sch, 1925
Collage on paper on artist’s mount
5 3/4 x 4 1/8 inches
14,5 x 10,6 cm
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Juan Gris, Bottle and Glass (Bouteille et verre), 1921
Oil on canvas
13 3/4 x 8 5/8 inches
35 x 22 cm
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Bruce Nauman, None Sing/Neon Sign, 1970
Neon
13 x 24 inches
33 x 61 cm -
Ed Ruscha, Heaven, 1986
Oil on canvas
59 x 145 1/2 inches
149,9 x 369,6 cm -
Pablo Picasso, Man With a Newspaper, 1914
Charcoal on paper
12 1/2 x 9 3/8 inches
31,6 x 23,8 cm
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Pablo Picasso, Être ou ne pas être , 1912
Gouache on paper
4 3/8 x 17 1/8 inches
11 x 43,5 cm
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Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Bottle of Vittel, 1920
Oil on canvas
45 x 32 cm
17 3/4 x 12 5/8 inches -
Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Newspaper, 1923
Oil on wood
5 1/8 x 6 7/8 inches
13 x 17,5 cm
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Andy Warhol, Francesco Clemente, Jean-Michel Basquiat, In Bianco, 1984
Acrylic, silkscreen, and pastel on canvas
48 x 66 1/8 inches
122 x 168 cm
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Barbara Kruger, Untitled (You Kill Time), 1983
Black & white photograph, in Artist’s frame
71 x 48 inches
180,3 x 121,9 cm
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Cy Twombly, Nine Discourses on Commodus by Cy Twombly at Leo Castelli, 1964
Colored pencil and graphite on paper
27 3/8 x 19 5/8 inches
69,6 x 49,8 cm
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Martin Kippenberger, Don’t Wake Daddy VII, 1994
Oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 1/4 inches
120 x 99,6 cm
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Pablo Picasso, La dernière chose qu'on trouve…, First half of the 20th century
Watercolor on paper
8 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches
21,5 x 27,2 cm
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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Wall Segment, 1982
Oil stick on thick plasterboard, wood and iron
41 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 5 inches
105,4 x 69,9 x 12,7 cm
Press release
Selected press
Artists
- Joseph Kosuth
- Pablo Picasso
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Alighiero Boetti
- Georges Braque
- Francesco Clemente
- Joseph Cornell
- Juan Gris
- Jasper Johns
- Martin Kippenberger
- Barbara Kruger
- Sol LeWitt
- René Magritte
- Robert Morris
- Bruce Nauman
- Larry Rivers
- Ed Ruscha
- Mario Schifano
- Kurt Schwitters
- Cy Twombly
- Ben Vautier
- Andy Warhol