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Back on Track: The Venerable Venice Biennale
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14827 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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10 / 1988 |
2,524 Words |
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Michael Gibson
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The Venice Biennale has, over the past twenty years, presented the world with one of the more conspicuous examples of the current dilemma of the arts. Badly shaken by the political upheavals of May 1968 (in the wake of which all prizes were abolished), the Biennale has apparently been oscillating between a manic phase in which it sought to adjust to the new political perception and a depressive phase in which the possibility of self-immolation was seriously considered.
This year the governing body seemed more inclined to the latter course and was only torn from this perspective by a convulsive last minute decision in which Giovanni Carandente was appointed director a scant four months before the scheduled opening date. This sets a record of sorts, and Carandente must be a remarkable man to have pulled his act together in so little time.
He and his team decided that the Biennale, for the first time in sixteen years, would not try to make any theoretical point by organizing the whole show around a thesis (such as the unsuccessful Art and Alchemy show two years ago). Instead, they would simply present the works sent by the artists who had been invited. The concept, it seems, is so basic that somehow they failed to think of it before: a work of art, by definition, is perfectly capable of making a point on its own. The fact that not all of them do is quite another matter.
Didactic Tone
The resulting exhibition at the 43rd Venice Biennale (it closed September 25) was consequently far removed from the paroxysmic, strenuously didactic tone of former years. Each artist was granted a good measure of Lebensraum. Each was displayed in his own room and works were allowed to stand or fall according to their merits. Many fell.
The prizes were once again being awarded: Jasper Johns, the world's highest-priced living artist, whose recent work was on display at the American Pavilion, won the prize for painting. The Italian pavilion was awarded the national pavilion prize. Other major prizes went to British sculptor Tony Cragg (who gained star status from the critical reaction in the press previews) and to Barbara Bloom, 37, for best emerging artist. Her work was shown in the huge Aperto section, a feature of the Biennale since 1980, which brings together all the diverse and myriad trends of the art world.
The Central Pavilion, which in recent years had been devoted to thematic exhibitions, was reinstated in its original function as the Italian pavilion. Its fine large halls were individually given over to nineteen Italian artists and to eight foreigners who live on a more or less permanent basis in Italy.
Head and Shoulders
The once noisy young men of the so-called Trans-avanguardia (a successful merchandising label cooked up some years ago by the Italian critic Achile Bonito Oliva) had plenty of space for their large works. Some of them, like Enzo Cucchi, have develoed a great deal of chic, but Mimmo Paladino stands head and shoulders above the rest in authenticity and artistic ability. He was represented in Venice by some large, forceful sculptures and four paintings that filled the big room and covered its walls creating what
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