Brian Rochefort Will Have Venice Show During Biennale -ARTnews

During the time of this year’s Venice Biennale, local gallery Caterina Tognon will exhibit a presentation of glazed stoneware and glass works by Los Angeles artist Brian Rochefort. Put on in collaboration with New York’s Van Doren Waxter gallery, which represents Rochefort, the show, titled “Collapse,” will open on May 8. It comes ahead of the artist’s first solo museum exhibition, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, which opens on August 1.

For his Venice presentation, Rochefort has crafted “craters” made from built-up layers of mud and clay, and topped them with “as many glazes as possible until I can’t fire anymore,” he said.

Caterina Tognon, the eponymous gallery’s founder, said in a statement, “These represent massive ‘craters,’ as if erupting with the energy of a volcanic explosion, suddenly active, with all the colors of exemplary American painting of the 20th century.”

In a joint statement, gallery partners Dorsey Waxter and Augusto Arbizo, both of Van Doren Waxter, said, “We are very pleased to show Brian Rochefort at Caterina Tognon. The artist’s deep interest in nature and the environment continues to stimulate his evolving practice.”