Forthcoming exhibitions in Zurich, Autumn 2023
Press Release
Lorna Simpson, Night Fall, 2023, Ink and acrylic on gessoed fiberglass, 365.8 x 259.1 x 3.5 cm / 144 x 102 x 1 3/8 in © Lorna Simpson. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: James Wang
Lorna Simpson, As far as possible, 2023, Ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass, 170.2 x 127 x 3.5 cm / 67 x 50 x 1 3/8 in © Lorna Simpson. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: James WangLorna Simpson
Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse
30 September – 22 December 2023
Opening 30 September 2023, the US artist Lorna Simpson will exhibit new work in Zurich from her ongoing Special Character series, marking Simpson’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in Switzerland. First unveiled in 2019, her Special Character series superimposes women’s faces from fashion and wig ads found in the pages of Ebony magazine, revealing through repetition the reinforcement of stereotypes in the everyday imagery we consume. In these works, silkscreened images of isolated figures emerge from layered washes of paint, highlighting Simpson’s continual investigation of the relationship between parts and wholes and the nature of representation, identity, gender and race. By repurposing and reconfiguring found images—a signature source in her work—Simpson creates her own highly distinctive visual terrain that offers a potent response to American life today.
Born in Brooklyn, Lorna Simpson came to prominence in the 1990s with her pioneering approach to conceptual photography. She deftly explores the medium’s umbilical relation to memory and history, both central themes within her work.
Fabio Mauri, L‘isola (The Island), 1960 – 1966, Canvas, tempera and acetate on wood, 59 x 78 cm / 23 1/4 x 30 3/4 in © Estate Fabio Mauri. Courtesy the Estate of Fabio Mauri and Hauser & Wirth
Fabio Mauri, Senza titolo (Untitled), 1960, Mixed media and collage on paper, 35.5 x 21.5 cm / 14 x 8 1/2 in © Estate Fabio Mauri. Courtesy the Estate of Fabio Mauri and Hauser & WirthFabio Mauri. Amore Mio
Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse
30 September – 22 December 2023
Organized with Olivier Renaud-Clément in close collaboration with Studio Fabio Mauri, ‘Fabio Mauri. Amore Mio’ is the artist’s first solo presentation in Switzerland and sheds light on a period in Mauri’s work during which the seminal Italian artist explored topics pertinent to pop art. The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and works on paper spanning the early 1950s to the mid 1970s, as well as the installation ‘Amore mio’ (1970), on view for the first time in over 50 years.
‘Fabio Mauri. Amore Mio’ is a testament to the artist’s early engagement with themes and ideas that would come to define pop art, before the movement became well-known in Europe when US artist Robert Rauschenberg won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1964. The earliest works in the exhibition are firmly rooted in Mauri’s personal biography and family history. These historical drawings and collages in the vein of neo-dada and proto-pop include comic strips and cartoon elements which were distributed by the artist’s father, Umberto Mauri, who was among the first to import American comics to Italy. Driven by an exploration of the role that these new media have with regards to creating narrative in the post-war years, Mauri deployed fragments of Lil Abner, Popeye, Flash Gordon and Mad Magazine in his works.
In 1957, Mauri began working on his seminal and radical ‘Schermi’ (Screens). Made with blank canvas or white paper, often citing the iconic and cinematic words ‘The End’, these objects refer to television and cinema, underscoring Mauri’s interest in the power of the New Media of his time and the mechanisms of communication and mediatic manipulation. In a radical gesture, Mauri voids his screens of any content, narration and ideology, emphasizing that ‘the canvas is no longer. It is exchanged with a distinctively ‘active’ breeding ground for culture and the fermentation of ideas.’ In addition to the series of silk screens, such as ‘Gangster’ (1974), a portrait of the notorious figure Al Capone which testifies to Mauri’s engagement with the international pop art movement, the exhibition also includes the large-scale installation ‘Amore Mio’ (1970). Consisting of 17 individually printed silkscreens that the artist arranged to form an immersive architectural space which requires the viewer’s active participation, the installation has remained unseen since its first showcase in 1970 during the legendary and homonymous exhibition presented by Achille Bonito Oliva in Montepulciano, Italy.
The exhibition precedes the online catalogue raisonné of Mauri’s work, to be published at the end of the year, as well as a solo presentation of works on paper at Castello di Rivoli, Italy, opening December 2023. Mauri’s iconic installation ‘Luna’ (1968) will also be part of a major group exhibition ‘Immersion. The Origins: 1949-1969’ at Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne from 27 October 2023.
Cover: ‘von konstruktiver klarheit. max bill und seine zeit 1940-1952.’ Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Publishers
Max Bill, horizontal-vertikal-diagonal-rhythmus (Horizontal-vertical-diagonal-rhythm), 1942, Oil on canvas, 160 x 80 cm / 63 x 31 1/2 in © 2023, Prolitteris, Zürich. Collection of Angela Thomas, Zumikon. Courtesy the max bill georges vantongerloo foundation and Hauser & Wirth
von konstruktiver klarheit. max bill und seine zeit 1940–1952
Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse
5 October until 18 November 2023
In conjunction with the release of the second volume of Angela Thomas’ biography on Max Bill, ‘von konstruktiver klarheit. max bill und seine zeit 1940-1952,’ Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse will present a Book Lab from 5 October to 18 November. Alongside various publications by and about Max Bill, there will be a selection of works by the artist on display, spanning from the 1940s to 1950s, including paintings and sculptures as well as around ten drawings, some of which are being exhibited for the first time. Max Bill (1908 – 1994) was one of the most versatile artists of the 20th Century, working as a designer, painter, sculptor, architect, graphic designer, furniture designer, typographer, publicist, curator, mediator, lecturer and politician. He is considered a pioneering figure and the most influential representative of Concrete Art. He significantly reinterpreted the genre once defined by Theo van Doesburg and raised its international profile thanks to his extensive artistic network and his teaching activities.
The Book Lab will open on 5 October from 6 to 8 pm with a book launch and reading by author Angela Thomas followed by various other events. On 24 October, starting at 7 pm, there will be a book signing and conversation between Angela Thomas and Prof. Ita Heinze-Greenberg in the Chipperfield Building of the Kunsthaus Zürich. On 1 November, there will be the screening of ‘Max Bill - das absolute Augenmass’ by director Erich Schmid at 5.30 pm at the Arthouse Piccadilly cinema in Zurich. On 2 November, starting at 5 pm, there will be an additional book signing and a conversation between the author and curator Fabienne Eggelhöfer at the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. In October 2023, ‘von konstruktiver klarheit. max bill und seine zeit 1940-1952’ will be the main focus of Hauser & Wirth Publishers’ presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair. This is the first time that the publishing house will take part in the fair as part of the joint booth of the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association (SBVV).
von konstruktiver klarheit. max bill und seine zeit 1940–1952
Written by Angela Thomas
Release date: 5 October 2023
In cooperation with the max bill georges vantongerloo foundation
Designed by Sonja Zagermann
German, softcover with dust jacket
840 pages, 255 illustrations, 165 x 235 mm
ISBN 978-3-906915-68-5
£48 / $55 / €52 / CHF 52 / HKD 450
An English edition will be published in spring 2024
Press Release
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For additional information, please contact:
Maddy Martin, Hauser & Wirth, maddymartin@hauserwirth