Written by Daniel Lowe, CIMA’s Summer-Fall 2021 Intern.
Over the past two weeks, CIMA members were treated to exclusive tours of two Downtown gallery exhibitions: Thomas Schütte at Peter Freeman Gallery, and Spazio e Forma: Lucio Fontana & Carla Prina at Shin Gallery.
On October 6, CIMA Members visited the Peter Freeman Gallery to view a show entirely dedicated to the works of German Sculptor Thomas Schütte. Gallery Director Peter Freeman led the tour personally, and was able to infuse it with fascinating tidbits about the artist’s life. The exhibition seeks to explore Schütte’s often unsettling approach to form, as well as his creative process: the work Frauenkopf (implodiert), for example, was the result of a kiln accident: Schütte was quite pleased with the formal outcome and used it anyway. The transformation of rejected forms into works of art signals the importance of every stage of the creative process: for what is an idea without material?
On Thursday, October 14, CIMA members were invited to the Shin Gallery in the Lower East Side to view Spazio e Forma: Lucio Fontana & Carla Prina, Tenzin Doma Lama served as tour leader.
The exhibition seeks to reconstruct Prina’s quest for forms through painting, and juxtaposes this research with two of Fontana’s famous tagli and his 1965 work Concetto spaziale. To date, the show is the largest exhibition of Prina’s works on US soil.
Fontana rips and drills into his surfaces to pull the spectator into infinitude. When looking at his works, one is washed over by a sublime sentiment spurred both through reliving the violence necessary to create such works, and the thrill of getting a glimpse of what lies beyond them. Prina’s works present a wholly different outlook on form and color: her airy paintings use cheerful colors that project out instead of pulling inwards. Prina’s oeuvre is particularly fascinating on formal terms, as she presents a fairly consistent message through extremely varied shapes: jagged and sinuous lines sing the same tune.
CIMA wishes to extend its thanks to Peter Freeman, Tenzin Doma Lama, Hong Gyu Shin, and all of the staff at Peter Freeman Galley and Shin Gallery for making the visits so memorable.
