Bernar Venet ”222.5° ARC x 4”. 1999

Rolled steel. 301 × 312 × 56 cm (118 ½ × 122 ⅞ × 22 in.). Titled lower right: 222.5° ARC x 4. The work is recorded in the artist’s archive under no. bv99s17. A certificate signed by the artist can be issued for this work. Unique work. [3189], Rolled steel. 301 × 312 × 56 cm (118 ½ × 122 ⅞ × 22 in.). Titled lower right: 222.5° ARC x 4. The work is recorded in the artist’s archive under no. bv99s17. A certificate signed by the artist can be issued for this work. Unique work. [3189], Bernar Venet Studio, Le Muy/France / Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (2017 acquired from the artist via Galerie Michael Fuchs, Berlin), Bernar Venet Studio, Le Muy/France / Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (2017 acquired from the artist via Galerie Michael Fuchs, Berlin), Monumental Lightness: Bernar Venet’s "222.5° ARC x 4" Bernar Venet’s „222.5° ARC x 4“ of 1999 exemplifies his sustained engagement with mathematical systems, geometric forms and the material conditions of sculpture. Four arcs made from rolled steel form an elegant, monumental construction. The title already reveals the formal basis of the work: an angle of 222.5 degrees is translated into steel and repeated four times. This precise designation is an integral part of the concept, directly referencing the system from which the unique work emerged. Since the 1960s, Venet has translated mathematical and scientific structures into an artistic language of his own. Line, angle, number and material take the place of the traditionally modelled sculptural body. This approach is particularly evident in his Arcs series, in which a single geometric element serves as the starting point for an ever-changing range of spatial configurations. Venet’s practice developed in dialogue with Minimal Art and Conceptual Art, movements he encountered first-hand after moving to New York in 1966. There, he met artists such as Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Carl Andre, whose work was likewise shaped by elementary forms, industrial materials and systematic procedures. Venet, however, took these principles in a direction of his own. While Minimal Art often sought a clear formal order, he increasingly combined mathematical precision with chance, variability and indeterminacy. A comparison with Max Bill is also illuminating in this context. Whereas Bill’s exploration of the Möbius strip demonstrates mathematical continuity and formal unity, Venet uses a mathematical premise as the starting point for an open-ended spatial investigation. The exact rule does not lead to an ideal form, but to a sculpture whose appearance unfolds fully only in relation to its surroundings and the viewer. Steel plays a central role in this process. Translated into an industrial material, the abstract mathematical premise acquires physical weight. The very act of bending makes this physical dimension tangible: the force required to shape the resistant steel into curves creates a tension between material, form and movement. In the finished sculpture, these forces seem to persist in a state of dynamic equilibrium. A number thus becomes a form that can be experienced physically, its industrial origins standing in productive contrast to the immaterial precision of the mathematical system. In the present work, the characteristic reddish patina further intensifies this dialogue between industrial material and the environment. The oxidation caused by weathering, deliberately intended by the artist, makes the effects of the elements visible and sets the sculpture in striking tension with its natural surroundings. The four arcs of „222.5° ARC x 4“ do not form a closed body, but instead define an open space in which material and emptiness are inextricably linked. Their curves guide the eye, create interstitial spaces and produce different effects depending on the viewer’s position. The sculpture therefore reveals itself fully only through movement around it and through the changing relationships between its elements. The repetition of the arc reflects Venet’s systematic approach: as the elementary unit of an open system, the individual arc generates ever-new spatial possibilities through variations in angle and configuration. A mathematical proposition thus becomes a sculpture to be experienced physically, whose impact arises from the interplay of number, line, steel and space. The characteristic tension in Venet’s art lies in this combination of conceptual precision and physical presence. IS

Estimation:€250,000

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