Guiseppe Penone - Spoglia d'oro, 2001
"Golden is a surface colour." - Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Gold has fascinated mankind since its discovery. It is the most highly prized of all precious metals, and all manner of artefacts and artworks have been created utilising it as a base or source of inspiration. I work with a great amount of gold leaf myself, and so was interested to see what other artists had done with it as a material too at this exhibition at Ordovas. There is the famous saying - "All that glitters is not gold", and so it proves with this exhibition dedicated to artists who have worked with gold materials. The exhibition title is a misnomer as most artworks here incorporate gold coloured finishes but not much of the actual precious metal itself. There are the copper tiles which make up the Carl Andre floor installation, Donald Judd's untitled aluminium wall sculpture, Alexander Archipenko's figurative statue made of bronze with a dulled gold leaf finish applied to its surface, which is shown here in Europe for the first time since 1969. There are though artworks by artists which do use genuine gold in their construction which are Chris Burden's Gold Bullets sculpture, Edmund de Waal's shelf installation - K. 314, and Guiseppe Penone's Spoglia d'oro, an elegant fold of crumpled gold impressed with marks resembling foliage. This small exhibition even incorporates a Champlevé enamel casket created in France from around the year 1200 to demonstrate the significance of gold in art and design historically. I enjoyed seeing Fausto Melotti's small, theatrical sculpture - Le bacche, and remembered the exhibition which introduced me to his work directly across the road on Savile Row at Hauser and Wirth gallery two years ago (here). Like myself Andy Warhol (previously) started his career in art as a commercial artist providing illustrations for a variety of clients in retail, advertising and textiles. I particularly enjoyed seeing two of his early gold-leafed shoe illustrations included here from the 1950s. This exhibition is the latest by Ordovas devoted to the theme of a colour with previous editions being devoted to white and blue. I look forward to what they present for the next in the series.
Champlevé enamel casket, ca. 1200, France
Carl Andre - Sixth Copper Corner, 1976
Alexander Archipenko - Walking, Onward, 1925
Donald Judd - Untitled, 1988
Edmund de Waal - K. 314, 2022
Lucio Fontana - Concetto Spaziale, 1960-61
Chris Burden - Gold Bullets, 2003
Andy Warhol - Beatrice Lielie, 1956
Guiseppe Penone - Spoglia d'oro, 2001
Fausto Melotti - Le bacche, ca.1976
Andy Warhol - Margaret Truman, 1956
until 13th December
Ordovas
25 Savile Row
London
W1S
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