As a famously reclusive artist, this is a rare insight into artist Brice Marden's collected oeuvre. Resolutely a painter, he is considered one of the most important artists alive today, and this catalogue collates the over 70 works selected by Marden for exhibition in Rome in 2001.
The catalogue of the three major European exhibitions in 2001/2 of the great American painter, Brice Marden, with text by the curator Mario Codognato. The 70 works were selected by the famously reclusive artist himself, and therefore provide a unique insight into his collected oeuvre.
A rare opportunity to view the great American artist Brice Marden's works in Europe came in 2001 to Rome and then moved to Turin and Munster. Until recently European connoisseurs of his paintings, etchings and prints have made pilgrimages across continents to be able to collate his work.
Some key to this elusive artist is derived from his studio high above the cosmopolitan frenzy of The Bowery in New York. It is a sanctuary of discipline, equanimity, equilibrium and control far removed from the city's anarchy below. Yet he says of himself: 'I am seeing my life as part of the struggle between man and nature, it is my inspiration. Any artist who takes the 'art scene' or short-sighted history as his inspiration is turning his back on his human self.'
Marden's personal philosophy is a dichotomy, and one which he discusses uneasily. It is also what makes him a key figure in the Minimalist art movement, with major exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
Who is the real Brice Marden? Who is this great reclusive artist, like some rare and exotic bird so seldom seen? In Brice Marden, the catalogue of the exhibitions, the artist himself and curator Mario Codognato have collected together 70 of his most personal and illuminating works.
