Women Artists at the Venice Biennale

19 April - 5 May 2022

  • The Mayor Gallery is delighted to celebrate this year's female-led Venice Biennale with artists that we have had the pleasure of working with and promoting over the years. From Surrealist to Zero discover works by eight selected artists in this special viewing room.

  • From a young age Apollonio (b. 1940 Trieste, Italy) followed the precepts of Arte Programmata. In most of her works...

    From a young age Apollonio (b. 1940 Trieste, Italy) followed the precepts of Arte Programmata. In most of her works the viewer's eye rotates a circular plane painted with two alternating colours (most often black and white or red and blue). This movement causes an extreme optical and perspectival effect of concentric concave and convex circles. The eye’s natural tendency to be drawn “towards the simplest configuration permitted by the sense of vision”, in the words of Rudolph Arnheim, is here overturned.

     

    €45,000.00

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  • DADAMAINO

     

    Born Eduarda Emilia Maino, Dadamaino (b. 1930 - d. 2004 Milan, Italy) was a multi faceted protagonist of the Milanese avant-garde after the Second World War and was very close to the Italian Spazialisti group. Her significant series Volumes; canvases interrupted by elliptical or round holes, reminiscent of Lucio Fontana, as well as her Sfasati series of regular holes punched through stretched plastic on frames, are concerned with opening up the surface of the artwork to create a three-dimensional quality.

    • DADAMAINO, Volume moduli sfasati, 1960
      DADAMAINO, Volume moduli sfasati, 1960
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    • DADAMAINO, Volume a moduli sfasati, 1960
      DADAMAINO, Volume a moduli sfasati, 1960
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  • VERA MOLNÁR

     

    Pre-dating the computer, Molnár (b. 1924 Budapest, Hungary) invented algorithms or “machine imaginaire” that created images by following a set of pre-ordained compositional rules creating colourful abstract geometric works. Her breakthrough came in 1968 when she gained access to a computer at a research lab after teaching herself the early programming language of Fortran and could now program endless variations of algorithms through a machine. A laborious process, Molnar, using a language of 0s and 1s, fed the commands into the computer on punched cards or paper tape which were then outputted to a plotter which conveyed the image directly to paper via a moving pen or pencil.  This method allowed her to investigate endless variations in geometric shape and line.

    • VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (5), 1972
      VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (5), 1972
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    • VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (6), 1972
      VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (6), 1972
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    • VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (7), 1972
      VERA MOLNÁR, Untitled (7), 1972
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1974
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1974
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
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    • VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
      VERA MOLNAR, Untitled, 1975
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  • Cornelia Parker is known for large-scale, often site-specific installations that ruminate on themes of destruction, transformation, consumerism, and the fragility of existence. The artist often uses everyday objects and violent techniques in her work.

     

    €30,000.00

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  • After publishing her final volume of poetry in 1941, the French artist Alice Rahon (b. 1904, France - d. 1987,...

    After publishing her final volume of poetry in 1941, the French artist Alice Rahon (b. 1904, France - d. 1987, Mexico City) dedicated herself almost exclusively to creating Surrealist paintings that combined found materials like butterfly wings with fantastical subjects like magic. Rahon made hats for whimsical fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, befriended Joan Miró, and was welcomed into the circle of Parisian Surrealists led by André Breton.

     

    €25,000.00

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  • Inspired by prehistoric cave paintings and memory, she created canvases with a sandpaper-like surface and used an sgraffito etching technique...

    Inspired by prehistoric cave paintings and memory, she created canvases with a sandpaper-like surface and used an sgraffito etching technique to expose underlying layers of paint.

     

    €28,000.00

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  • Throughout her expansive, seven-decade career, Dorothea Tanning (b. 1910 Illinois, USA – d. 2012 NYC, USA) created dreamlike worlds, embracing Surrealism and sensual transcendence. Her paintings featured sinewy figures, strong lines, and dramatic shadings.

     

    €90,000.00

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  • A fellow student, colleague and friend of Giovanni Anceschi, Davide Boriani, Gianni Colombo and Gabriele De Vecchi, whom she got to know in 1960, Varisco (b. 1937 Milan, Italy) became part of Gruppo T and participated in exhibitions such as Arte Programmata in 1962, Milan, Nouvelle Tendances, 1963, Zagreb. It was for Miriorama 6, held at the Galleria Pater, that she exhibited for the first time two magnetic boards similar to this Tavola magnetica, where elementary geometric forms can be freely shifted and applied by the viewer. 

     

    €30,000.00

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  • Nanda Vigo (b. 1936 Milan, Italy) is one of the pre-eminent names in the history of contemporary Italian art. Ever since the 60’s, following a constantly evolving process a world away from stereotypes and brand names, the exemplary nature of her work has inspired a generation of artists and designers.

     

    Nanda Vigo’s artistic adventure began in Milan in late 1958 and early 1959. She initially worked closely with Gio Ponti and Lucio Fontana, mentors who would teach her the art of space and light in a conceptual and emotional style that will inspire her to define her own artistic philosophy.

     

    €50,000.00

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