Davide Balula at Gagosian

French artist David Balula curated an experiential trajectory at the Gagosian gallery in Rome, that responds directly and specifically to the surrounding architecture.

Davide Balula, “Iron Levels”, vedute d’installazione, Gagosian, Roma, 2017

Time Space Existence: the Future of Architecture In Venice

Until November 23, 2025, Venice is the global hub for architectural discussion with "Time Space Existence." This biennial exhibition, spearheaded by the European Cultural Centre, features projects from 52 countries, all focused on "Repairing, Regenerating, and Reusing" for a more sustainable future.

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“Iron Levels” is an exhibition of new works by French artist Davide Balula that examines the intersection of philosophy, phenomenology, and physics, on show at the Gagosian gallery in Rome. For the gallery, he has created an experiential trajectory that responds directly and specifically to the architecture.

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Top: Davide Balula, Mimed Sculptures, 2016. Performance with six mimes and six pedestals. Variable dimensions. © Davide Balula. Courtesy Galerie Frank Elbaz and Gagosian. Above: left – Davide Balula, © 2014 Davide Balula (self portrait). Right – Davide Balula, Painting the Roof of your Mouth (Ice Cream), 2015 (detail). Dipinti, gelateria, gelato. Photo Raphael Fanelli

Davide Balula, Buried Painting (Champagne), 2014. Chalk particles on canvas © Davide Balula. Foto Zarko Vijatovic. Courtesy Gagosian

Davide Balula, BPiBP (Unrolled for Rome 7-19-23), 2017. Charred wood, charcoal dust on linen © Davide Balula. Photo Matthew Booth. Courtesy Gagosian

Davide Balula, BPiBP (Unrolled for Rome 16-17-18), 2017. Charred wood, charcoal dust on linen © Davide Balula. Photo Matthew Booth. Courtesy Gagosian

Davide Balula, BPiBP (Unrolled for Rome 13-14-15), 2017. Charred wood, charcoal dust on linen © Davide Balula. Photo Matthew Booth. Courtesy Gagosian

On entering the exhibition, visitors pass through a sculptural metal detector. A ubiquitous instrument of search and verification, the metal detector makes private belongings into objects of suspicion or potential threat. Its purpose is to reveal the metal, non-bodily material we carry with us each day – keys, coins, cell phone – that which we habitually treat as extensions of the self. The metal detector functions as a portal, further separating the idealized space of the gallery from the world outside.

Davide Balula, Artificially Aged Painting (Wet, Dry, Wet, Dry, Wet, Dry) H1624, 2014–2015 — Davide Balula, *Artificially Aged Painting (Wet, Dry, Wet, Dry, Wet, Dry) H1624*, 2014–2015. Factory primed linen, artist frame. © Davide Balula. Photo Matthew Grubb. Courtesy Gagosian

In the first room, the visitor is invited to pick up and handle a stainless-steel ball, which sits in a ball-holder sculpted from local limestone. The carved holder evokes the organic softness and curves of skin, and the rendition of flesh and muscle as expressed by Italian master sculptors. The ball and holder explore the gravitational balance between body and earth, an invitation to consider one’s weight, mass, and density. In Air Between Fingers (2014), a 1:47 long video shot on an iPhone, Balula’s thumb and middle finger hover with a millimeter of space between each fingertip, occasionally touching as his control over the minute space slips, in a mesmerizing display of the forces of gravity, friction, and magnetism that act upon and within the body.

Davide Balula, Slab Slant Slide (Zq0), 2016 — Davide Balula, *Slab Slant Slide (Zq0)*, 2016, Parnonas marble. © Davide Balula. Photo Zarko Vijatovic. Courtesy Gagosian

The second, oval-shaped room of the exhibition contains a new series of Balula’s Burnt Paintings, made for the sweeping curve of the room’s wall. The works in this series contain two binary elements, one frame holding the charred charcoal residue of burnt wood, and a second frame holding a canvas imprinted with the charcoal of the burnt wood. In groups of two, three, or four frames to a work, these “paintings” sit together in positive and negative relationship, much like that of photography or printmaking. The process of making charcoal is slow and steady, with a gradual increase and decrease of heat so that the wood is not turned into ash, but retains the potential to burn again; the Burnt Paintings thus consider the cyclical, almost alchemical, transfer of energy in nature, a phenomenon fundamental to Balula’s work.

until 18 November 2017
Davide Balula. Iron Levels
Gagosian
via Francesco Crispi, 16
Rome

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Davide Balula at Gagosian

French artist David Balula curated an experiential trajectory at the Gagosian gallery in Rome, that responds directly and specifically to the surrounding architecture.

Time Space Existence: the Future of Architecture In Venice

Natural stone is an eternal material

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