Cayón Menorca is pleased to present an exhibition by Joel Shapiro (New York, 1941), the artist’s first show at the gallery and in Spain since his solo show at the IVAM in Valencia more than 30 years ago (1990-1). The exhibition will present some of his most recent sculptures, pastels on paper and an installation that will occupy the vast main hall of the old theater that now hosts Cayón’s exhibitions in Mahón, Menorca.
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2022
Since the seventies, Shapiro’s sculptural work uses and takes to the extreme some of the basic principles of sculpture such as scale, forcing the spectators’ vision and abstracting their position to examine the smallest or medium-sized works to becoming participants in the artist’s most monumental installations, including the one that will be presented in Cayón, Menorca. Composed by a series of geometric elements in basic colors (yellow, orange, red and blue), these imposing works reaching up to three meters will hang at different heights across the 12-meter-tall room.
Danseuse á le marguerite, Julio Gonzalez
1937
In addition to the installation, the exhibition will present various of Shapiro’s sculptures in wood and bronze characterized by the assembly of different bodies, normally of enormous formal simplicity, that have allowed those who know Shapiro’s work to relate him to the avant-garde of the early years of the last century; from Tatlin to Picasso, passing through Julio González (Barcelona, 1876-Arcueil, 1942).
Precisely because of this relationship with the Catalan sculptor, and for the first time, an encounter between González and Shapiro will be proposed in one of the gallery spaces. Thus, some sculptures by the New Yorker will coexist with major works by Julio González (such as “Les Amoureux I”, 1932-3 or “Tête Aigüe/Masque Aigu”, 1930) owned by the Julio González Administration, with whose collaboration this project is being carried out.
Joel Shapiro is an American artist renowned for having developed, since the 1970s, a body of sculpture distinguished by its dynamism and formal elegance. Employing a vocabulary of often geometric elements, his work, which frequently blurs the line between figuration and abstraction, explores the possibilities of sculptural form and attempts to challenge one’s sense of scale and invigorate one’s sense of space.
A resident of New York, Shapiro has been the subject of numerous solo and retrospective exhibitions at institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery in London (1980), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1982); the Metropolitan Museum Rooftop, New York (2001); the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1985); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1995-1996); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2016); Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2017); and the Yale University Art Gallery (2018).
Shapiro’s work is installed in public settings across Europe, Asia, and North America and is held in international collections including New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Whitney Museum of American Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
In Spain, his work can be found in such public collections as the IVAM, Valencia, and the Helga de Alvear Collection, Cáceres.
Julio González is one of the most important and influential artists of the first half of the 20th century. He was the first to use welding to make his works, which meant a radical change in the conception of sculpture that had been held since the time of Greek art. Through the industrial technique of autogenous welding, the elements that make up a sculpture occupy the space, giving it a capital importance because, finally, the sculptor was able to “draw in space” without the limitations that artists had been dragging when using materials such as wood, stone or traditional foundation.
He spent most of his life in Paris, where he came into contact with the artistic avant-garde. It was there that he would begin to move towards an abstract language, giving space and emptiness the main role in his work. From his hand -and from the famous collaboration with Pablo Picasso in 1930- emerged some of the most important works of the last century and of the history of sculpture. Julio Gonzalez is perhaps the most influential European artist in American sculpture; without his presence we cannot understand the work of David Smith, among many others.
This is the first time that a dialogue between Gonzalez and Shapiro has taken place. The works are from the Julio Gonzalez Administration, Paris, with whose essential collaboration this project is made.
Main couchée, Julio Sanchez
1937
Bronze
Edición: 3/8
Firmado “J. GONZALEZ 3/8” y con marca de fundición.
19 x 29,5 x 2,7 (cm.)
JG004
Danseuse á le marguerites, Julio Gonzalez
1937
Bronze. Lost wax casting, patina, and welding
46 x 28,8 x 9,5 (cm.)
JG031
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2011
Bronze
Edition 5 + 1 AP (0,5) + 1 FP
37,8 x 45,7 x 25,4 (cm.)
SH009
Petite danseuse, Julio Gonzalez
1929 -1930
Bronze. Lost-wax casting, patina, and welding
17,7 x 10 x 4 (cm.)
JG032
Les amoreux I, Julio Gonzalez
1932 - 1933
Bronze. Lost-wax casting, patina, and welding
12,3 x 7,8 x 8,3 (cm.)
JG033
Le cagoulard, Julio Gonzalez
1935 - 1936
Lost-wax casting, repoussé, and patina
14,5 x 22 x 18 (cm.)
JG034
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2021
Wood, casein, stainless steel pins, and hot glue
121,6 x 123,2 x 83,2 (cm.)
SH015
Personnage allongé II, Julio Gonzalez
1936
Bronze. Lost-wax casting, patina, and welding
25 x 38 x 18 (cm.)
JG035
Le front, Julio Gonzalez
1934 - 1936
Bronze with dark brown patina and welding
19 x 13,2 x 3 (cm.)
JG036
Tête Aigüe / Masque Aigu, Julio Gonzalez
1930
Bronze. Lost-wax casting, patina, and welding
25,5 x 16,2 x 11,5 (cm.)
JG037
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2022
Pastel, charcoal, chalk, and pencil on paper
77,4 x 108,1 (cm.)
SH035
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2022
Pastel, charcoal, chalk, and pencil on paper
138,4 x 118,1 (cm.)
SH040
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
2022
Pastel, charcoal, chalk, and pencil on paper
102,9 x 75,9 (cm.)
SH041
