Barry Le Va, In a State of Flux

This book accompanies the exhibition Barry Le Va, In a State of Flux, at Fruitmarket from 16.11.24–02.02.25.

The three-volume publication places particular emphasis on the artist’s own words in the form of his Notes (statements) and various interviews published for the first time or republished. Le Va has been influential on generations of artists and this major publication will trace his career, while allowing his voice to be heard again.

Associated with process art and postminimalism, Barry Le Va developed a challenging, inspirational sculptural practice over a fifty-year career. He was catapulted to fame as a completely unknown young artist by a cover story in the magazine Artforum in 1968. The photograph was a detail of one of his ‘distribution’ or ‘scatter’ pieces: felt fragments and shapes dispersed seemingly at random across the floor. In 1971, he made an installation for London-based gallerist Nigel Greenwood, laying neat lines of flour across the floor of a vast warehouse, then blowing it into evocative drifts of white with an air compressor to make, in his words, a ‘continuous expansion extended scale’.

The floor was Le Va’s primary field of exploration and operation, and this exhibition brings together some of his most important floor works made with glass, felt, chalk, wood and tape. He was interested in the potential of materials in their raw state, making works that hint at then unleash their latent energy.

Barry Le Va: In a State of Flux is a production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. The exhibition will travel to Museum Kurhaus Kleve.

Editor/Authors: Christiane Meyer-Stoll, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein

Fiona Bradley, Susanne Figner, Christiane Meyer-Stoll

Softcover, 26 x 21 cm

VOLUME 1

Essays and Works, 1 28 pages

VOLUME 2

Exhibition History, Bibliography, and Artist's Notes, 272 pages

VOLUME 3

Interviews, 120 pages

ISBN: 9783991531258