Piero Golia: Still Life (Lightning), 2020
Piero Golia at Gagosian Gallery Gagosian Gallery London presents an exhibition by Piero Golia. From June 15 to July 31, 2020.]]>
Source: Gagosian Gallery London
Golia is a sculptor of situations. His works—at times architecturally scaled, at others elusive or immaterial—are statements aimed at expanding the boundaries of art. His practice is heterogeneous and unpredictable, employing diverse mediums and methods to spark chain reactions that, even when they leave no objects or images behind, have the capacity to alter our perception.
In 2003, after his involvement in a car accident that threw him into debt, Golia took the remains of his 1984 Saab, melted them down, and recast them into a glossy black unicorn. Five years later, he responded to the standardized format of the art-fair booth by compressing a 10-meter-long passenger bus into the 6-meter width of the assigned space, filling it completely. In 2010, he installed a sculpture atop the roof of the Standard Hotel on Sunset Boulevard—a mysterious orb, “Luminous Sphere”, which lit up whenever he was in town.
For this exhibition, Golia has engineered a surreal “sculptural happening” by choreographing a set of objects and incidents to create a singular experience that seems to unfold outside of time. A ball spiraling around a roulette wheel signals the start of a unique adventure. Viewers witness, in rhythmic sequence, a biological occurrence, an instance of extreme weather, and an object coming to a catastrophic end—events that together form a living tableau in constant motion. Golia’s exhibition regenerates itself from moment to moment, suggesting that repetition and renewal might give rise to heightened sculptural presence.
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