Tasende Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Mark di Suvero, April 9 through June 25, 2022. The exhibit includes monumental painted steel sculptures, smaller stainless steels and drawings. Two of the monumental works are placed in front of the gallery and in the gallery's courtyard. Mamma Mobius, 2018, graces the front of the building and measures 10 × 16 × 9 feet, weighing some 8,400 lbs. Mark di Suvero's most recent work is installed in the gallery's courtyard. It is called Untitled, 2022 and is comprised of two elements, a stainless-steel plate and the bright orange wrap around portal. It measures 6 x 9 x 8 feet and weighs 1,500 lbs.
A fully illustrated color catalog accompanies the exhibition which includes short essays by some of the most important people in our art community: Hugh Davies, Roxana Velásquez, Robert Pincus, Derrick Cartwright and Mary Beebe. This is available at https://www.tasendegallery.com/current-exhibitions/mark-di-suvero-virtual-catalogue
Born in Shanghai in 1933, Mark di Suvero moved to San Francisco with his family in 1942. He received a degree in Philosophy from the University of California Berkeley. He also studied poetry, music, mathematics and sculpture. In the late 1950s di Suvero moved to New York where he experienced the demolition of numerous old buildings, and from the debris discovered materials he could recycle to express his poetic architectural constructions: I-Beams, rusty chains, old tires. While rehabilitating from a construction related accident and confined to a wheelchair, di Suvero strengthened his welding techniques and developed ideas for incorporating movement into his work. Historically, di Suvero follows the emotionally charged Abstract Expressionist painters of the 1950s. Along with his contemporaries, minimalist and monumentalist sculptors, he embraces the concepts of scale and presence, the ability to impact the viewer and cause them to be participants in the work. Unlike the minimalists, di Suvero also brings to his work his poetic references, symmetry and movement, non-pristine materials and a sense of randomness of life and of human emotions. Scale, movement and human interaction are hallmarks of di Suvero's sculpture.
Art historian Barbara Rose made this observation. "Although di Suvero bears a lasting debt to Constructivism, especially to Julio Gonzales and David Smith who wrenched poetic statements from factory techniques and materials, di Suvero is a flamboyant romantic whose works express a drama and an overtly emotional intensity we associate not with the restrained geometry of Constructivism but with the operatic style of the Baroque. [1]"
An opening reception will be held Thursday, April 7 from 5 to 7 pm. Members of the press are cordially invited For additional images, please contact gallery. Tasende Gallery, 820 Prospect Street, La Jolla, California is open Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday 11 to 5 pm.
[1] Rose, Barbara, Mark di Suvero, New Sculpture, "Mark di Suvero: Spinners, Tumblers, Puzzles," Janie C. Lee Gallery, Huston, TX, 1978
Left: Mark di Suvero, Mamma Mobius, 2018, Painted Steel, 10'2" x 16' 9" x 9' 1/2"
Right: Mark di Suvero, Untitled 2022, Painted Steel, 6'4" × 8'10" × 7' 8 1/2". Photo: Aitor Tasende Tasende Gallery - 820 Prospect Street, La Jolla, California 92037 T: 858 454 3691 tasendegallery.com