Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915-2015
A major new exhibition tracing a century of Abstract art from 1915 to today is on show at the Whitechapel Gallery from the 15th January 2015.
It brings together over 100 works by 100 modern masters and contemporary artists including Carl Andre, David Batchelor, Dan Flavin, Andrea Fraser, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco, HeÌlio Oiticica, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Theo Van Doesburg and Andrea Zittel, taking over six exhibition spaces across the gallery.
The exhibition takes a fresh look at this new art for a modern age, and asks how art relates to society and politics.
Arranged chronologically, the exhibition is divided into four key themes:
Communication’ examines the possibilities of abstraction for mobilising radical change.
Architectonics’ looks at how abstraction can underpin socially transformative spaces.
Utopia’ imagines a new, ideal society, which transcends hierarchy and class.
The Everyday’ follows the way abstract art filters into all aspects of visual culture, from corporate logos to textile design.
David Batchelor: Monochrome Archive, 1997-2015
British artist David Batchelor’s Found Monochromes series is on display in Gallery 2. Found Monochromes is a collection of photographs taken by Batchelor over a 20 year period, of single square and rectangular white planes and panels encountered on walks through cities from London to São Paulo. While he started looking at how abstraction is embedded in the urban fabric, it has grown into a far more personal project: a psycho-geographical map of each city he visits. Batchelor says, I often feel that abstract art is the art of the city and that the monochrome is its exemplary form’. For the first time all 500 images are shown as a multi-screen installation, a counterpoint to Malevich’s Black and White. Suprematist Composition (1915) painting which is the exhibition’s starting point.
Perspex panel produced by Genesis Imaging using our Direct to Media UV printing service.
Visitor Information
Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 6pm; Thursdays, 11am – 9pm.
Admission £13.50 (including Gift Aid donation) £11.95 (without Gift Aid).
Whitechapel Gallery,
77 – 82 Whitechapel High Street,
London,
E1 7QX.
Nearest London Underground Station: Aldgate East, Liverpool Street, Tower Gateway