ExhibitionSeptember 20, 2022
The Menil Collection to Present Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work
The Menil Collection will be presenting Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work, the first museum exhibition survey of the more than fifty-year-long career of American artist Walter De Maria (1935–2013). On view exclusively at the Menil from October 29, 2022, through April 23, 2023, the show presents the artist’s remarkable exploration of space, time, and spirituality through works from the museum’s permanent collection, most of which have been recently acquired and never before publicly displayed.
De Maria actively participated in New York City’s avant-garde music and performance circles in the early 1960s. The artist’s radically simple works from this time, with their modest materials and construction, embody the up-and-coming ideas that led to development of the Minimalism, Conceptualism, Earth Art, and participatory art movements that shaped De Maria’s career in the years that followed.
Rebecca Rabinow, Director of the Menil Collection said, “The Menil Collection has a long history with Walter De Maria. John and Dominique de Menil began acquiring his work in the early 1970s, De Maria’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. was held at the Menil in 2011, and more recently, the museum has acquired significant groups of his work. The Menil is committed to deep and sustained relationships with artists, and the upcoming exhibition celebrates this mission.”
The museum’s presentation will also include a large group of conceptual drawings, photography and sculpture related to the development of the artist’s innovative land art projects of the 1970s, and examples of his sound and film work that further engage the body and the senses. Ocean Bed, 1969, has been reconstructed for display in this exhibition. Audience members are invited to recline on a pink mattress while listening to ambient sounds of the sea in this meditative and participatory work.
Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work is curated by Brad Epley, former Chief Conservator, and Michelle White, Senior Curator.
For more information: menil.org
De Maria actively participated in New York City’s avant-garde music and performance circles in the early 1960s. The artist’s radically simple works from this time, with their modest materials and construction, embody the up-and-coming ideas that led to development of the Minimalism, Conceptualism, Earth Art, and participatory art movements that shaped De Maria’s career in the years that followed.
Rebecca Rabinow, Director of the Menil Collection said, “The Menil Collection has a long history with Walter De Maria. John and Dominique de Menil began acquiring his work in the early 1970s, De Maria’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. was held at the Menil in 2011, and more recently, the museum has acquired significant groups of his work. The Menil is committed to deep and sustained relationships with artists, and the upcoming exhibition celebrates this mission.”
The museum’s presentation will also include a large group of conceptual drawings, photography and sculpture related to the development of the artist’s innovative land art projects of the 1970s, and examples of his sound and film work that further engage the body and the senses. Ocean Bed, 1969, has been reconstructed for display in this exhibition. Audience members are invited to recline on a pink mattress while listening to ambient sounds of the sea in this meditative and participatory work.
Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work is curated by Brad Epley, former Chief Conservator, and Michelle White, Senior Curator.
For more information: menil.org
