Project Room: Walter Swennen

September 9–October 21, 2017
Zeven Flessen, a sculpture of seven red, yellow and blue bottles in a plastic bag installed freestanding to the left of William Burroughs, a stylized portrait of the eponymous figure.

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017

Three works installed on two adjacent walls: I am Afraid I told a Lie to the left, and Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the right. I am Afraid I told a Lie is installed folded out on the wall.

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017

Three works installed around two adjacent walls: Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the left, and Untitled (collective film for the 1971 Paris Biennale, including Walter Swennen, Guy Mees, Leo Josefstein, Jacques Charlier, Bernd Lohaus and Panamarenko) on the right, playing on a CRT television.

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017

Press Release

In parallel to his forthcoming solo exhibition ‘bewtie’ at New York’s Gladstone Gallery (September 15 – October 28), White Columns is proud to present in our Project space, a discrete display of earlier works by the celebrated Belgian artist Walter Swennen (b. 1946) alongside a film made by Jacques Charlier, that features Swennen as a narrator, with contributions from his fellow Belgian artists Guy Mees, Leo Josefstein, Bernd Lohaus and Panamarenko, that was originally shown in the Paris Biennial in 1971. The display features two key early works by Swennen, his 1968 portrait of the writer William Burroughs, made when Swennen was in his early 20s, and Zeven Flessen, a painted sculptural work from 1966 that reverberates with the contemporaneous work of his compatriot Marcel Broodthaers. A third work, I am Afraid I told a Lie, is a folded map-like print from 2011, that charts a constellation of artists and philosophers, whose work and thinking have likely helped shape and inform Swennen’s own.

On Saturday 16 September, at 7pm White Columns will host a rare screening of the 2016 documentary about Swennen “The Crimson Tongue” (dir. Violaine de Villiers, 2016). Informal Q&A with the artist to follow. Admission is free and offered on a ‘first come’ basis.

We would like to thank Walter Swennen, Barbara Gladstone, Laurence Dujardyn,  and everyone at Gladstone Gallery for their enthusiasm and support with this project.

Walter Swennen (b. 1946, lives and works in Brussels.) His work has been shown internationally since 1980, but has rarely been seen in the United States. His work was previously the subject of solo exhibitions at  Gladstone Gallery, New York (2015), and Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York (1992). A widely celebrated retrospective of his work ‘So Far So Good’ was organized by Weils, Brussels in 2013.

For further information about this exhibition contact: info@whitecolumns.org

Checklist

Zeven Flessen, a sculpture of seven red, yellow and blue bottles in a plastic bag installed freestanding to the left of William Burroughs, a stylized portrait of the eponymous figure.
Three works installed on two adjacent walls: I am Afraid I told a Lie to the left, and Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the right. I am Afraid I told a Lie is installed folded out on the wall.
Three works installed around two adjacent walls: Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the left, and Untitled (collective film for the 1971 Paris Biennale, including Walter Swennen, Guy Mees, Leo Josefstein, Jacques Charlier, Bernd Lohaus and Panamarenko) on the right, playing on a CRT television.

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017 (Zeven Flessen, a sculpture of seven red, yellow and blue bottles in a plastic bag installed freestanding to the left of William Burroughs, a stylized portrait of the eponymous figure.)

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017 (Three works installed on two adjacent walls: I am Afraid I told a Lie to the left, and Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the right. I am Afraid I told a Lie is installed folded out on the wall.)

Walter Swennen, installation view, 2017 (Three works installed around two adjacent walls: Zeven Flessen and William Burroughs to the left, and Untitled (collective film for the 1971 Paris Biennale, including Walter Swennen, Guy Mees, Leo Josefstein, Jacques Charlier, Bernd Lohaus and Panamarenko) on the right, playing on a CRT television.)