Installation view of John Armleder's exhibition About Nothing. Works On Paper 1962 – 2007 . Photo: Andy Stagg
Literally hundreds of works on paper produced by the Swiss artist John Armleder over the past 45 years will be installed by the artist in the South London Gallery’s beautiful exhibition space, hung wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling, to create a temporary, site specific work in its own right. Initiated by Kunsthalle Zurich and curated by Beatrix Ruf, the exhibition presents an expansive and experimental view of drawing itself. Selected from private collections and from the artist’s studio, the exhibition brings together works in pen and ink, watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil and collage on paper, as well as original books and a special edition of wallpaper created especially for the exhibition.
Artist
John Armleder (b.1948, Geneva, Switzerland, lives in Geneva and New York) is a performance artist, sculptor, and painter, whose multi-faceted activities are connected by drawing. Affiliated with Fluxus in the late 1960s and 70s, the value of ephemerality and the notion that art is the conduction of creative energy are central to his work. During the 1980s his ‘furniture sculpture’ was highly visible within the context of ‘New Geometry’ or ‘Neo Geo’. John Armleder is widely known and respected as the co-founder of the Group Ecart, which has been endorsing the work of artists (Christian Marclay and Karen Kilimnik among them) since the 1970s through its publications, exhibitions and representation at art fairs. A highly influential, established figure within the international community, Armleder’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe.
Visitor in John Armleder’s exhibition About Nothing. Works On Paper 1962 – 2007 . Photo: Andy Stagg