Francis Alÿs is best known for his films, installations, and performances called paseos in which he wanders through urban streets. For the past three decades, however, the Mexico City-based, Belgian-born artist has also been quietly painting en plein air, sometimes in extraordinarily remote or conflict-ridden locations. But these artworks have never been given their own show—until now. Later this year, the Liverpool Biennial will present a selection of his delicate paintings, its organizers announced. Alÿs completed some of them when he was embedded in northern Iraq with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who were driving ISIS out of Mosul.
The Liverpool Biennial is the largest festival of contemporary visual art in the UK. This year, with an exhibition titled “Beautiful world, where are you?,” it celebrates its 20th anniversary. The event will take place from July 14 to October 28 in the port city in the north west of England. Alÿs is one of more than 40 artists from 22 countries chosen by the biennial’s co-curators Kitty Scott, the curator of Modern and contemporary art at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and Sally Tallant, the director of Liverpool Biennial. Read more