A detail from a sculpture by Carol Bove titled Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022
A detail from a sculpture by Carol Bove titled Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022

Carol Bove: Vase/Face

David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Carol Bove at the gallery’s Paris location. The exhibition follows the artist’s acclaimed 2021 exhibitions at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and will be Bove’s first solo show in Paris since her Prix Lafayette presentation at Palais de Tokyo in 2010.


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Image: Carol Bove, Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, 2022 (detail)

David Zwirner a le plaisir d’annoncer une exposition d’œuvres récentes de Carol Bove dans les espaces de la galerie à Paris. L'exposition fait suite aux expositions de l'artiste au Nasher Sculpture Center de Dallas et au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York en 2021. Ce sera la première exposition personnelle de Carol Bove à Paris depuis sa présentation lors du Prix Lafayette au Palais de Tokyo en 2010. 

Location
108, rue Vieille du Temple Paris
Dates
October 17—December 17, 2022
Opening Reception
Monday, October 17, 6-8pm
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 11am–7pm
Artist
Carol Bove
Press Release
Vase/Face
An Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

The exhibition opens with a monochrome environment featuring a selection of large-scale sculptures made of crumpled stainless steel tubing, each combined with a large, circular glass disc. Installed at different elevations and surrounded by gray flooring and walls, the works confront viewers with a consideration of the physical experience of form and space.

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
85 x 91 1/2 x 57 1/2 inches (215.9 x 232.4 x 146.1 cm)
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“I think about an exhibition as a complete statement.… You see one thing after another, and you enact a certain dance as the views unfold in a particular sequence. I try to anticipate these sequences and play with them so that there are reveals and surprises.”

—Carol Bove

An Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

An Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face I / The Ascent to Heaven on a Dentist's Chair, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face I / The Ascent to Heaven on a Dentist's Chair, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
85 x 87 x 57 1/2 inches (215.9 x 221 x 146.1 cm)
Inquire

The unpainted, contorted, and folded steel tubing has been sandblasted to create a uniformly smooth, almost claylike finish. This matte surface attests to the works’ physical presence as raw steel, while also producing the illusion of a painted surface.

“Bove’s deployment of color contributes to encounters with her sculptures in which we struggle to reconcile what we see and physically experience with what our brains tell us.… In some cases, [the] light-absorbing matte skin creates the impression of substance, as if a tube had been cast out of pure pigment.”

—Catherine Craft, Curator, Nasher Sculpture Center

An Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

The installation in the main gallery also includes a three-dimensional construction of a “Rubin’s vase,” the well-known optical illusion first developed in the early twentieth century by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin. The image can be read as either two opposing faces or a vase, depending on the viewer’s reading of positive and negative space.

A Photo by Daniel Dorsa of Carol Bove, dated 2022.

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

A photo by Daniel Dorsa of Carol Bove’s studio, dated 2022.

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

A Photo by Daniel Dorsa of Carol Bove’s studio, dated 2022.

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face IV / Max Muller Casts a Spell on the Magus, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face IV / Max Muller Casts a Spell on the Magus, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
68 1/8 x 73 3/8 x 40 1/4 inches (173 x 186.4 x 102.2 cm)
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Made from glass, the large disks in each sculpture rest adjacent to and within the crushed, torqued forms. Echoing the glass and wrought iron skylight of the gallery itself, they simultaneously take in and intervene with their environment.

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
60 x 65 5/8 x 34 5/8 inches (152.4 x 166.7 x 88 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove titled Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022

Carol Bove, Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, 2022 (detail)

Carol Bove, Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, 2022 (detail)

Similarly, this spatial echo was first explored by the artist in her 2020 commission for the facade of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. At the Met, the sculptures included aluminum disks positioned at different angles, which reflected their surroundings.

An Installation view, of Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, dated 2021

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Kyle Knodell

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Kyle Knodell

An Installation view, of Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, dated 2021

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Jason Schmidt

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Jason Schmidt

An Installation view, of Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, dated 2021

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Kyle Knodell

Installation view, Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2021. Photo by Kyle Knodell

“On each of the four sculptures the discs face a different direction, and that gives the suite an enjoyable rhythm—that Busby Berkeley fanning action—as you go past...”

—Jason Farago, The New York Times

An installation view, Carol Bove: Vase Face, David Zwriner, New York, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Particoloured Heideggerianism, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
28 1/2 x 36 x 11 1/2 inches (72.4 x 91.4 x 29.2 cm)
Inquire

On view in the adjacent gallery is a selection of colorful wall-mounted sculptures, installed on walls covered in a gray-mauve linen. This considered backdrop offsets the bright pink, yellow, and orange matte finishes of the forms, which register to the eye almost like digitally rendered, Photoshopped images.

A detail of a sculpture by Carol Bove titled Particoloured Heideggerianism, dated 2022

Carol Bove, Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022 (detail)

Carol Bove, Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Carol Bove titled Particoloured Heideggerianism, dated 2022

Carol Bove, Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022 (detail)

Carol Bove, Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022 (detail)

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Deluge of Literality, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Deluge of Literality, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
28 1/2 x 49 1/4 x 13 inches (72.4 x 125.1 x 33 cm)
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A Photo by Daniel Dorsa of Carol Bove, dated 2022.

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

The vibrating colors of the wall-mounted structures seem to reference those found on today’s industrial products, as well as the pinks, yellows, and faded mauves of late nineteenth-century paintings by artists such as Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard.

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

Carol Bove’s studio, 2022. Photo: Daniel Dorsa

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Manx January, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Manx January, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
13 3/4 x 26 x 9 inches (34.9 x 66 x 22.9 cm)
Inquire
A detail of a sculpture by Carol Bove titled Manx January, dated 2022

Carol Bove, Manx January, 2022 (detail)

Carol Bove, Manx January, 2022 (detail)

The works on view further Bove’s engagement with the limits of physicality and perception, and attest to the artist’s ongoing exploration of the possibilities of abstract sculpture.

A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Discarded Antonym, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Discarded Antonym, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
21 1/4 x 21 x 13 1/2 inches (54 x 53.3 x 34.3 cm)
Inquire

“The encounter with sculpture is of paramount importance to Bove, and the mechanisms of display are as much material as anything else. Her work embodies looking and addresses embodied looking.”

—Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director, Holt/Smithson Foundation

An installation view, Carol Bove: Vase Face, David Zwriner, New York, dated 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Installation view, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, David Zwirner, Paris, 2022

Inquire about works by Carol Bove

Get in Touch
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
An installation view of the exhibition, Carol Bove: Vase/Face, at David Zwirner in Paris, dated 2022.
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face I / The Ascent to Heaven on a Dentist's Chair, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face I / The Ascent to Heaven on a Dentist's Chair, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
85 x 87 x 57 1/2 inches (215.9 x 221 x 146.1 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face II / The First Tableau of Heaven, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
60 x 65 5/8 x 34 5/8 inches (152.4 x 166.7 x 88 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face III / The Skeleton Juggling a Baby in the Central Tableau of Heaven, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
85 x 91 1/2 x 57 1/2 inches (215.9 x 232.4 x 146.1 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Vase Face IV / Max Muller Casts a Spell on the Magus, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Vase Face IV / Max Muller Casts a Spell on the Magus, 2022
Stainless steel and laminated glass with heat fused ink
68 1/8 x 73 3/8 x 40 1/4 inches (173 x 186.4 x 102.2 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Particoloured Heideggerianism, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Particoloured Heideggerianism, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
28 1/2 x 36 x 11 1/2 inches (72.4 x 91.4 x 29.2 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Manx January, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Manx January, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
13 3/4 x 26 x 9 inches (34.9 x 66 x 22.9 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Deluge of Literality, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Deluge of Literality, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
28 1/2 x 49 1/4 x 13 inches (72.4 x 125.1 x 33 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Discarded Antonym, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Discarded Antonym, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
21 1/4 x 21 x 13 1/2 inches (54 x 53.3 x 34.3 cm)
Inquire
A sculpture by Carol Bove, titled Blood Harmony, dated 2022.

Carol Bove

Blood Harmony, 2022
Stainless steel and urethane paint
53 x 13 1/2 x 11 inches (134.6 x 34.3 x 27.9 cm)
Inquire

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