Our friend Jane Rushton, director of the Berengo Foundation in Venice, invited us to join her at the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, part of the Pinault Collection, for the opening of “Cows by the Water,” an exhibition of the work of Albert Oehlen. Painting is currently alive and well at Palazzo Grassi. The exuberant mark making obscuring recognizable Pop images seemed to say that Abstract Expressionism can kick Pop’s proverbial a**.
The color is a delightful nod to the palette of Joan Mitchell, that superior female working in a man’s expressionist world.
Arthur, Jane and I left smiling in a Motoscafi bound for the sister exhibition at the other Pinault outpost in Venice, the restored customs house Punta della Dogana, which is one of my favorite spaces in Venice. There we were absorbed by “Dancing with Myself,” where figurative art was dominant in rooms filled with works by, among many others, Rudolf Stiengel and Cindy Sherman.
More smiles.
Both exhibitions are on view through most of 2018. See them if you can.
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