Gil Wolman: I Am Immortal & Alive – Serralves Museum – 29 January-27 March 2011

By Gregorio | January 23, 2011 at 3:30 pm | No comments | Events, Porto | Tags: art, contemporary, museum, Porto

French artist Gil Wolman (1929-1995) was an enigmatic player in contemporary art in the last century. For the first time in Portugal, a retrospective of Wolman is presented by the Serralves Museum in Porto in Gil Wolman: I Am Immortal and Alive. The exhibition opens 29 January and runs through 27 March.

Gil Wolman, Untitled, 1966

Wolman was a key figure in an obscure art movement in the mid twentieth century known as “Lettrism.” Followers believed that all forms of artistic expression (such as poetry, painting and music) had reached its peak. Any new works were considered to be repetitive or frivolous. In order to be original, a new creative cycle must be realized, and the only way to do this was to deconstruct art and language to its simplest form…letters, symbols and sounds.

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The exhibition begins with Wolman’s experimentation with Lettrism. Works, documents and publications provide an overview of this unique artistic movement. As well, Wolman’s very controversial film L’Anticoncept (1951) is projected on a giant weather balloon. The film itself has no images, only projections of light and dark, with an audio track of Wolman reciting poems, reflections and other rhythmic texts.

Wolman, Untitled Collage, 1954

The majority of the exhibit showcases Wolman’s technique known as “Scotch Art.” These are basically collages produced by tearing strips of printed paper, and taping them (with scotch tape) to wood or canvas. Because many of the printed materials used were from mass media, the themes of the works reflect political and pop culture of the times.

Wolman, Untitled Collage

The final area of the exhibition is devoted to the “Separatist Movement,” which Wolman founded and was the sole participant. Here works of art are intended to be simplistic, but make a statement by being split into two with no concern for esthetics.

Gil Wolman: I Am Immortal and Alive is jointly-curated by the Serralves Museum and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art. For more information on this exhibition, visit the Serralves Museum website.