CONTRASTES
Antonio Calderara, Giorgio Griffa, Sol LeWitt, Giulio Paolini, Verena Loewensberg, Alighiero Boetti, Sol LeWitt
CONTRASTES
The gallery's connection to Italy and avant-garde artists from Milan, Turin and Rome was extremely important, particularly during its early years in the 1960s and -70s. During this period, a new understanding of art emerged in Europe and America, breaking with existing artistic concepts and aesthetic conventions. While conceptual art was often criticised for being reduced, cold and cerebral, it found a poetic, sensual and life-affirming expression in Italy. The current exhibition, CONTRASTES, demonstrates this in a compelling way. It brings together three artists: Alighiero Boetti (1940–1994), Giorgio Griffa (born 1936), and Giulio Paolini (born 1940).
The gallery has a long and intense history with these artists. Regular visits to galleries and studios in Milan and Turin shaped the 1970s, as did the intense summer days spent in Spoleto with many Italian avant-garde artists. The gallery exhibited Alighiero Boetti (later Alighiero e Boetti) and Giorgio Griffa in the group exhibition "Objects, Projects, Plans – Conceptual Art from Italy" in 1972. This was followed by solo exhibitions with Alighiero Boetti in 1974, 1977 and 1982, and with Giorgio Griffa in 1973, 1975, 1978, 1981 and 2017. The gallery's collaboration with Giulio Paolini continues to this day, and it has shown his works in nine solo exhibitions since 1973.
Throughout the exhibition, the three Italian artists are joined by friends and guests connected to them in life or in spirit. It opens with works by:
Antonio Calderara (1903–1978),
Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), and
Verena Loewensberg (1912–1986).
Installation views
Installation view room 4
Installation view room 4
Showcase office room
Showcase office room
Showcase office room
Installation view room 1
Installation view room 2
Installation view room 2
Installation view room 3
Installation view room 3
Installation view room 4
Installation view room 4
Installation view room 4
Works
Antonio Calderara
Senza titolo
1973
27 x 27 cm
oil on wood panel
Giorgio Griffa
o.T.
1975
150 x 260 cm
acrylic on linen
Giorgio Griffa
o.T.
1975
150 x 260 cm
acrylic on linen
Giorgio Griffa
o.T.
1979
60 x 61 cm
acrylic on canvas
Giorgio Griffa
o.T.
1974
70 x 53.5 cm
acrylic on canvas
Sol LeWitt
Irregular lines vertically superimposed
1993
76 x 56.5 cm
gouache on paper
Giulio Paolini
Les herbes folles
2010
100 x 60 cm
pencil and collage on paper, Plexiglas, collage on wall
Giulio Paolini
Les herbes folles
2010
100 x 60 cm
pencil and collage on paper, Plexiglas, collage on wall
Giulio Paolini
Ni le soleil ni la mort
1993
64 x 48 cm
collage on paper
Giulio Paolini
Studie zu „Cariatide“
1979
50 x 70 cm
Collage on paper
Giulio Paolini
Senza Titolo
1979
38 x 76 cm
pencil and collage on paper
Giulio Paolini
Il modello del tempio / Il tempio del modello
1986
49.5 x 104.5 cm
lithograph on paper
Verena Loewensberg
ohne Titel
1976
70 x 100 cm
oil on canvas
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Da uno a dieci
1980
37.6 x 56 cm
ink and pecil on paper
10 parts
Alighiero Boetti
Insicuro Noncurante
1966 1975
55 x 44.7 cm
portfolio of 81 numbered mix media works
ed. HC III
Sol LeWitt
Irregular lines vertically superimposed
1993
76 x 56.5 cm
gouache on paper
New
Exhibition
James Bishop
Paintings and Paintings on Paper
April 16 to July 10, 2026
New publications
Richard Tuttle
Complete Interviews 1970–2022
Edited and with a Preface Interview by Dieter Schwarz
Glen Rubsamen
The Petrified Forest
Publisher: Glen Rubsamen
Exhibitions / Insight
INSIGHT – ARTWORKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT #2, Paintings on Paper by James Bishop presents four works on paper by James Bishop. Created between 1956 and around 1993 they provide valid perspectives on an artistic oeuvre defined by an insistence on painting.
Antonio Calderara Riti di passaggio. Dalla figurazione all'arte concreta, Fondazione Marcello Morandini, Varese, through April 26, 2026
Donald Judd, Judd|Marfa, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, through June 7, 2026
Rita McBride, Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Centre at 70, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, through May 17, 2026
Abstract Constructions, Nassos Daphnis - Rita McBride, Fondation CAB, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, FR, through October 25, 2026
Richard Tuttle | Giulio Paolini | Marisa Merz | Mario Merz
Long Story Short, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, through January 2027
Fred Sandback Cuts into Spaces (group show), Hall Art Foundation, Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, ongoing
Sculpture, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, October 12, 2025 through July 2026
Sol LeWitt (1928–2007)
A Wall Drawing Retrospective
Yale University Art Gallery and Williams College Museum of Art
November 16, 2008 – 2033
Annemarie Verna Gallery | Neptunstrasse 42 | 8032 Zurich | Switzerland | Phone +41 44 262 3820 | Fax +41 44 262 3826 |
