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Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Francois Morellet: The Squaring of the Square, an Introspective at Museum Ritter

Museum Ritter opens a major solo exhibition of work by François Morellet and pays tribute to one of the foremost artists in France today. Right until 27 September 2009, the entire building will present a broad cross-section of his wide-ranging oeuvre. Apart from geometrical paintings, the exhibition will also feature works with lattices and adhesive tape, as well as light installations using coloured neon tubes. The choice of works was made in close consultation with the artist and grants the viewer a very personal look at over 60 years of work by one of the wittiest of artist provocateurs.

François Morellet numbers among the foremost representatives of Geometrical Abstraction and is acclaimed as one of the co-founders of Concrete Art. For over fifty years he has created abstract compositions in a wide variety of materials and techniques, all the while combining rational, systematic procedures with playful levity and cryptic humour.

Morellet’s exceptional work has already been presented the world over in leading museums. He has also participated several times at the Venice Biennale and the documenta in Kassel, and received international acclaim through his numerous projects in public space. In 2008 he was awarded the Peter C. Ruppert Prize for Concrete Art in Europe.

François Morellet’s work occupies a very special place in the Marli Hoppe-Ritter Collection. “I purchased my first work by him in 1994 – with the teasing title Free-vol. And soon I became aware of the sheer variety of his work. Right from the beginning I was enchanted by François Morellet’s wit and charm. I am delighted that we can now present a large exhibition featuring loans from the artist and works from my own collection,” writes Marli Hoppe-Ritter, collector and founder of the museum.

The title of the exhibition “Squaring of the Square” is taken from one of the artist’s works in neon. “What is this title about? Nothing, of course,” says François Morellet, “apart from my twin obsession with squares and absurdities… It seems to me that humour, irony, derision and frivolity are the necessary seasoning to makes squares, systems and all the rest of it digestible.” This outlook has enabled the artist time and again to astonish the viewer by the simplest of means and to create highly effective and wittily ironic works from geometrical forms.

The exhibition curated by Gerda Ridler and Dr. Barbara Willert can be seen at Museum Ritter from 17 May to 27 September 2009. With 50 works from all major periods of his career, it provides an excellent overview of Morellet’s extensive output.

MUSEUM RITTER
Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter
Alfred-Ritter-Straße 27
71111 Waldenbuch

Telefon +49(0)7157.53511-0
Fax +49(0)7157.53511-90
e-mail [email protected]

www.museum-ritter.de