PREVIEW: Robert Wilson-Owls and Chairs
Robert Wilson works across a wide variety of artistic disciplines and is an acclaimed director, stage architect, designer, choreographer, curator, visual and light artist. Since the late 1960s, his productions have decisively shaped the contemporary aesthetics of theatre and opera. Through his signature use of light, investigations into the structure of simple movements and the classical rigour of his designs, the force and originality of his vision is apparent across all media.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Bernier/Eliades Gallery Archive
Robert Wilson’s graphic works are fuelled by influences ranging from performance art to Minimalism. While these are often intimately linked to his work for the stage, acting as records of his creative process during rehearsals, they also exist independently as purely poetical objects. Often presented in sequence, his drawings offer subtle variations on the same motif. Rendered in subtle tones of black and white, these works range from pure abstraction to specific sketches of what Wilson envisioned for an act, scene or interlude. Rather than a realistic rendering of the stage design, they represent energy streams, echoing his use of light to define space on stage. On the occassion, of his solo exhibition “Owls and Chairs” Robert Wilson created an environment restaging designs from his 1998 production “The White Raven”, his 1999 ”THE DAYS BEFORE: death, destruction & detroit III” and his 2006 video work “KOOL”. Much like his work on stage Wilson transformed Bernier/Eliades Gallery Archive into a space for the imagination, challenging the viewer to take an associative approach to the experience. Born in Waco, Texas, Wilson is among the world’s foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide. After being educated at the University of Texas and Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, Wilson founded the New York-based performance collective “The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds” in the mid-1960s, and developed his first signature works, including “Deafman Glance” (1970) and “A Letter for Queen Victoria” (1974-1975). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera “Einstein on the Beach” (1976). Wilson’s artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi.He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Beckett’s Krapp’s “Last Tape”, Brecht/Weill’s “Threepenny Opera”, Debussy’s “Pelléas et Melisande”, Goethe’s “Faust”, Homer’s “Odyssey”, Jean de la Fontaine’s “Fables”, Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”, Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus”. Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, two Premio Ubu awards, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, and an Olivier Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds 8 Honorary Doctorate degrees.
Photo: Artwork from the exhibition “Robert Wilson, Owls and Chairs”, Courtesy the artist and Bernier/Eliades Gallery
Info: Bernier/Eliades Gallery, 11 Eptachalkou Street, Athens, Greece, Duration: 12/10-5/12/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 11:00-18:30, Sat 12:00-16:00, https://bernier-eliades.com/
