On Saturday 2 June, “EXPLOSION! Painting as Action” opened at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. The museum describes this breathtaking exhibition thus:
“Explosion explores the rich and complex cross fertilizations and borderlands of painting, performance and conceptual art. It traces this expanded idea of painting as action from late 1940s until today. The exhibition will include works in different media by some 45 artists from many parts of the world — such as the important Japanese Gutai group, including Shozo Shimamoto, Sadamasa Motonaga, Saburo Murakami and Kazuo Shiraga, along with such artists as Allan Kaprow, Jackson Pollock, Niki de Saint Phalle, Yves Klein, Ana Mendieta, Alison Knowles, Rivane Neuenschwander, Yoko Ono and Lawrence Weiner.
“After the Second World War, a number of painters in different parts of the world began to attack painting’s fundamental assumptions in ways that were at once both aggressive and playful. Many artists attached as much importance to the creative act itself as they did to the painting that resulted from it. On this borderland between painting and performance, chance or the spectator were often recruited as co-creators of the work. This experimental, conceptual attitude to painting and art subsequently inspired a lot of other artists. In recent years, interest in performance art has increased, and with it interest in its roots.”
“EXPLOSION! Painting as Action” will be on display from 2 June to 9 September 2012 at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. The museum is open to the public Tuesday from 10h-20h and Wednesday-Sunday from 10h-18h and is closed Monday. Admission is 100/80 SEK for adults and free for those 18 and under.
Photo: Installation view: Explosion! Painting as Action, Moderna Museet, 2012
© Photo: Åsa Lundén/Moderna Museet.
Works (from left): Jean Tinguely, Méta-Matic no 17, 1961 © Jean Tinguely/BUS 2012; Kazuo Shiraga, Untitled, 1956-2006 © Kazuo Shiraga; Niki de Saint Phalle, Tableau tir, 1961 © Niki de Saint Phalle/BUS 2012.