Remarkably,
Brutal Beauty is the first major survey of Jean Dubuffet’s work in the UK in more than 50 years. Yet, as the curator Eleanor Nairne points out, Dubuffet has remained a source of inspiration for successive generations of artists. David Hockney’s early career was “set alight” by seeing Dubuffet at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1955, Nairne says. Jean-Michel Basquiat “completely fell in love with” the Frenchman’s “tumultuous” landscapes and his scribbling marks, she adds. And the impetus for the present show was visiting contemporary artists and seeing “how actively they re engaging with his work in their practice”.
While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.
A close collaboration with the artist, this ambitious survey at the Gropius Bau in Berlin (23 April–15 August) allows visitors to lose themselves in full reconstructions of eight of Kusama’s exhibitions from between 1952 and 1983, revealing how her art developed from early abstract paintings to her celebrated immersive environments. Included are two of Kusama’s earliest exhibitions, held in her hometown of Matsumoto, followed by the installation ‘Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show’, which was staged in New York in 1963. The survey also includes a new Infinity Room and an installation specially commissioned for the atrium of the museum. Find out more from the Gropius Bau’s website.