Not always silent

The Nathalie Du Pasquier “Big objects not always silent” exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Vienna it is not a retrospective, anyone visiting the exhibition is instead invited to inhabit it as a whole.

Nathalie Du Pasquier, Big objects not always silent, Kunsthalle Wien 2016
There are no dates or titles in the Nathalie Du Pasquier “Big objects not always silent” exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Vienna, curated by Luca Lo Pinto. Here, chronology does not reside and, even though it describes a life’s work, it is not a retrospective.
Even though you enter on one side and leave on the other as is usual in a museum, anyone visiting the exhibition is instead invited to inhabit it as a whole, the world of Nathalie, who has been active since the 1980s, tireless in representing in her unmistakable way what surrounds her, her fantasies, passions, thoughts.
Nathalie Du Pasquier, Big objects not always silent, Kunsthalle Wien 2016
Nathalie Du Pasquier, Big objects not always silent, Kunsthalle Wien 2016. Top and above ph. Stephan Wyckoff

There is nothing in this exhibition that is not produced by the artist and that is not recognisable as hers. A series of small settings, coloured and papered walls divide and multiply the space: they hold large and small paintings, drawings and sculptures but also small pieces of furniture, fabrics, and ceramics that create a dialogue with one another through association and assonance.

And then a surprise, a setting in which colour disappears and only three-dimensionality remains to articulate the space, the padded silence of a neutral tone and yet once again that unmistakable way of touching materials and forms can be recognised.

Nathalie Du Pasquier, Big objects not always silent, Kunsthalle Wien 2016
Nathalie Du Pasquier, Big objects not always silent, Kunsthalle Wien 2016. ph. Delfino Sisto Legnani

You feel like spending a long time in this exhibition, retracing your steps, sitting on one of the coloured benches shaped like a cassette, resting your bare feet on one of the beautiful carpets. You want to stay in this world, to continue to breathe this mixture of joy and sadness and try to decipher the magic of such abundant talent, to let yourself be seduced by a use of marks and colours that you could become addicted to. But you also want quietly to stop there and do you own thing, read a book, practice yoga, listen to music, stay and chat with a friend sitting on the sofa. Maybe you could…

At the bookshop, the first part of the catalogue (an artist book) is not to be missed along with a series of limited-edition self-produced books on sale at a very reasonable price.

© all rights reserved

until 13 November 2016
Nathalie Du Pasquier
Big objects not always silent
curated by Luca Lo Pinto
Kunstahalle Wien
Museumsplatz 1 Vienna

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