At the Venice Biennale, Artists Create Their Own Truths in the Era of “Fake News”

Rugoff argues that even the more formal works can embrace artifice. Carol Bove’s masterful sculptures are simple monochromatic shapes. Bather (2019) looks like a massive, light-pink twist of tubing. Yet each crease and bend in the material creates a dramatic interplay of light and shadow on the intricate surface. The fun, bubblegum hue belies the significant heft of the stainless steel beneath the paint. Bove’s title situates the work within a long tradition of Western art history, likening the structure to a monumental nude body. With a subtle but ingenious feminist touch, Bove reclaims the male gaze for her own abstract practice. If Bove’s work nudges at issues of gender, three photographers use their medium to generate entirely new selves. The idea of the doppelgänger, or a double, is particularly strong throughout these works.

Read more