RICHARD PRINCE'S WORK WILL BE PRESENTED WITHIN THE SHOW

"Mapping the Studio: Artists from the Francois Pinault Collection" at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana opens to the public on June 6, 2009.

"Mapping the Studio: Artists from Francois Pinault Collection" - an exhibition curated by Alison Gingeras and Francesco Bonami - will open simultaneously in the newly renovated spaces of Punta della Dogana and the Palazzo Grassi. This exhibition signals the Francois Pinault Foundation's desire to develop an artistic program at the highest level and its long-lasting commitment to contemporary culture in the city of Venice.

The curators have borrowed the show's title from a seminal video work by Bruce Nauman in which the artist recorded footage of his studio at night. Mapping the Studio allows us a glimpse into this highly charged space where the creative process develops. The curators have proposed an analogy between the creativity and intimacy of the artist's studio and the collector's deeply individual and passionate vision of art.

Mapping the Studio takes this parallel as its starting point as it puts into dialogue the work of established artists with a younger generation in order to capture the energy and creative tension that animates many different approaches to art making. Through the curatorial process, the exhibition follows the journey of each artwork from the artist's universe into the context of a very focused private collection that is transforming itself into an international museum.

Transcending mediums, generations and national frontiers, this landmark show is installed in the combined spaces of Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi. The some 300 works that have been selected create an expansive cartography of the Pinault Collection - reflecting its audacity, generosity, and originality. The show features uncontestable masterpieces of contemporary art by artist strongly identified with the Pinault collection (Jeff Koons, Sigmar Polke, Rudolf Stingel, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Cy Twombly, Cady Noland, Robert Gober, Takashi Murakami, Jake and Dinos Chapman to name but a few) that span the past 40 years and compose the collection's backbone.These icons are shown side-by-side with the work of emerging talents (such as Matthew Day Jackson, Adel Abdessamed, Wilhelm Sasnal, Rachel Harrison, Mark Grotjahn, Richard Hughes, Nate Lowman, Mark Bradford, Kai Althoff) and of artists who might have been overlooked on the international scene (such as Lee Lozano).

For this momentous occasion the Pinault Foundation confirms its strong tradition of patronage in Venice by commissioning artists to create new site-specific works that will define the exceptional nature of this renewed commitment to the city.

This potent mix of artists both defines the ambition and scope of the collection - creating an invigorating and challenging path that bridges each exhibited artists' creative universe

VISITOR INFORMATION
Palazzo Grassi Campo San Samuele,
3231 30124 Venice ITALY
T. +39.041.523.1680

RICHARD PRINCE AT THE SHOW

"Pop Life: Art in a Material World" at Tate Modern, London on view October 1, 2009 - January 17, 2010.

"Good business is the best art" Andy Warhol once provocatively claimed. Tate Modern's hit autumn exhibition Pop Life examines how artists since the 1980s have cultivated their public persona as a product, and conjured a dazzling mix of media, commerce and glamour to build their own 'brands'. Beginning with the grandfather of Pop, Andy Warhol, the show includes Jeff Koons' infamous Made in Heaven series and his stainless steel Rabbit sculpture, an iconic array of golden spot and butterfly paintings from Damien Hirst's recordbreaking 2008 auction, and a reconstruction of Keith Haring's Pop Shop in New York. Also included will be works by Richard Prince, Martin Kippenberger, and the notorious YBAs, and a new commission by Takashi Murakami.