Lawrence Weiner, sculptor?

Born in the Bronx, New York on 10 February 1942, Lawrence Weiner is one of the most important living American artists.  A key member of the New York conceptual art world of the 1960s, for over forty years he has been using language as his primary material.  Whilst usually taking the form of large typographic wall texts he refers to his work as sculpture, and the words, phrases and statements he employs are often representative of states or processes grounded in the physical world.

Lawrence has lived in the UK since the 1960s and has almost lost all of his US accent to be replaced by a distinctly smokers tone, as shown in the video below, where he drags on his cigarette before showing Dazed and Confused around his exhibition.

I saw the work of Lawrence Weiner at Tate St Ives during a visit two years ago and was really taken by how strong the work seemed and how simple it was that it really brings the viewer into the work and you are not distracted by any other visual noise.

Not too mention that I have always been such a fan of typography in art, and am always drawn towards any work that uses strong type in the work.

Here are some more images of Lawrence’s work…

Courtesy of mjthor

Courtesy of locomomo

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep: Boursier-Mougenot at Barbcian

“What I want to establish in my works is a relationship to life, to motion and to the physical presence, rather than the chance character inherent in the phenomena or situations that I use as sources of sonic activity.”

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, March 2010

A flock of Zebra finches greeted me as I entered in to the Barbican’s Curve gallery. There are an equal number of male and female zebra finches in the gallery, I later read, which explained the different colours of birds.

As I walked around the space, the birds flew about landing on Les Paul guitars, often on the strings plucking the strings with their claws. One bird was busy making a nest of grass inside the bottom of the guitar head and warned me off with some stern cheeping.

Another collection of birds were stood in an up-turned cymbals filled with water, and another bird was pecking away at another cymbal filled with food.

I am not usually amazed and amused by art installations, but this really captured my attention, watching what they would do next. Hoping that one bird would get excited on top of the guitar enough to make some fantastic sounds.

Closing on 23 May 2010, if you can make it along I would recommend doing so. Get there early as the queue can build up quickly.

The Barbican website has more information: barbican.org.uk

The Wire magazine interviewed Boursier-Mougenot and also produced a video of their visit.