2 ARCS x 4 (235.5 degree and 232.5 degree) (*Retired)
By Bernar Venet
Category: Miscellaneous
About
** This piece is no longer on display. Please see our Retired Public Art Installations page for more information.
These sculptures by Bernar Venet are precisely as described by the title: beams of steel rolled into 235.5 and 232.5 degree arcs. Throughout his career, Venet works to defined art and to separate himself from the idea that art is the expression of the artist. For him the most important element in the work of art is the concept or idea involved. In his recent work, Venet creates works based on mathematical graphs and formulas. In mathematics, Venet discovered a language of symbols that satisfied his desire to create an art that in non-expressive and not subject to personal interpretation.
For more information visit the Gateway Foundation website.
Dimensions: 162″ x 162″ x28″
Year Completed: 1999-2000
Material: Rolled steel
Owner: Gateway Foundation
About the artist:
Bernar Venet
Artist Bio:
b. April 20, 1941; Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban in the Alpes of Haute-Provence
The work of Bernard Venet is mathematically inspired. He aligns himself with the theory of the French semiologist Jacques Bertin, who breaks down all signs into three categories. The first is called the pansemic and is made up of non-figurative imagery like music; the second, the polysemicis categorized by words and figurative imagery; and third, the monosemic is composed of mathematic and graphic imagery. Venet believes that the art world has focused almost entirely on figurative and non-figurative signs and has ignored mathematical ones. Thus, Venet’s art is an exploration of this unexplored category. Furthermore, his belief is absolute as he has claimed that art must become “solely a place of a manifestation of a code.”
