ANNEMARIE
VERNA
GALLERY

Joseph Egan / across the board

August 25 to October 15, 2011

When the concept of art takes concrete shape, the appearance of objects or the result of artistic efforts is characterized by a multiplicity of functions. Many expectations assumed to be self-evident and binding primarily satisfy the preferences or desire for prestige of the groups of participants in the art world which dominate and use the latter at the time of observation. Of course, this is a simplification, abstract and undifferentiated, yet it is helpful in many respects. The preferences in question are seldom clear-cut and by nature have no absolute value, no unforeseeable duration. They can be manipulated, revised and replaced. The global art scene holds ready many possibilities and many stages for presentation. The actors can more or less successfully make themselves or their work widely visible while inestimably diverse forms of expression find it unnecessary to fight for authentication. Numerous functional circuits coincide and occasionally overlap. Contemporary art, its manifestations, institutions and museums, are no doubt a current and timely invention and institution. Yet the field of art can also be compared to a terrain that fortunately consists of layers formed and superimposed over long periods of time and continuing to remain available. Laying the roots somewhat deeper marks a justified resistance to arbitrariness and substitutability enacted by the course of events.

Consideration of the work of Joseph Egan requires the willingness to desist from conventional and authoritarian contentions. Art as a form of life and as an indispensable part of day-to-day existence is all but forgotten. Yet this is the very source his oeuvre’s most profound offerings, making it worth taking a longer path. This goes to suggest that the artist Joseph Egan’s understanding of time and history is scarcely aligned with the narrow track of topicality.

The expression form of life contains the term form. The fact that form and the aspiration to form things have lost their great significance, considered untouchable in the history of philosophical aesthetics, is a curious and questionable phenomenon which manifests itself throughout all contemporary artistic work and presents itself as an intrinsic quality. After all, the form imparts the reality of the world of life and objects, and matter needs form in order to assume intuitive meaning. The social relevance of aesthetic creation has become a blind spot, as it were. A deficiency apparently neither noticed nor regretted.

This is the focal point for Joseph Egan and the works are a testimonial to and fulfillment of an intensive and continuous activity. Such a mandate is certainly not formulated by any art scene or issued by any market, yet the work’s meaning and significance requires no further proof.

‘across the board’ is now the eighth solo exhibition presented in our gallery since 1992. The artist’s working technique does indeed transgress borders. Materials and techniques are employed in an unusual manner and, after having seen these works, it is clear that ‘board’ can also be understood literally as a structuring element and module. The everyday provenance of the material, the rich associations of the found pieces is integrated by the saturated sensuality of painting into a whole. It consists of compressed memories, feelings, experiences that find their embodiment in these objects.

Installation views

Installation view room 4

Installation view room 1

Installation view room 2

Installation view room 3

Installation view room 4

Installation view office

Works

differences Nr. 4
2011
15 x 38 x 3 cm
various paints on wood

Voices Nr. 12
2010
in 13 parts
overall dimensions:
50 x 140 x 3 cm
each part: 37 x 5 x 3 cm
various paints and sand on wood

Lax’s tracks (Patmos)
2010
38.5 x 56 x 3 cm
various paints on wood

bambini
2009
37.5 x 32.5 x 4 cm
various paints and sand on wood

downstream
2010
38 x 42 x 5 cm
various paints and sand on wood

hortensia
2009
116 x 74 x 3.5 cm
various paints on wood

Elegy
2011
37 x 26 x 4.5 cm
various paints on wood

fire
2011
in 21 parts
overall dimensions ca.
200 x 150 x 3.5 cm
each part: 47 x 6 x 3.5 cm
various paints on wood

Bouquet
2001
22 x 67 x 3.5 cm
oil paints on wood

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 3)
2010
32 x 13 x 7 cm
various paints on wood with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 7)
2010
32 x 26 x 6 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 4)
2010
30 x 26 x 6 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 6)
2010
32 x 25.5 x 6.5 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 5)
2010
31 x 25 x 6 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 8)
2010
30 x 24 x 4.5 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 9)
2010
30 x 24 x 5 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

paintcote (on Hydra Nr. 14)
2010
30 x 24 x 5.5 cm
various paints on wood and styrofoam with free elements (painted paint)

on Hydra Nr. 61
2010
25 x 17.5 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on canvas

on Hydra Nr. 53
2010
30 x 23.5 cm
framed: 40 x 33.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on canvas

on Hydra Nr. 52
2010
30 x 23.5 cm
framed: 40 x 33.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on canvas

on Hydra Nr. 54
2010
30 x 23.5 cm
framed: 40 x 33.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on canvas

on Hydra Nr. 62
2010
24.5 x 18.5 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on canvas

NAXOS
2011
in 23 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 29 x 4.5 x 2 cm
various paints and sand on wood

across the board Nr. 1 (Naxos)
2011
36 x 59.5 x 4 cm
various paints on wood

across the board Nr. 2 (Naxos)
2011
35 x 57 x 4 cm
various paints on wood

darkest hour
2010
36 x 37 x 4 cm
various paints on wood

on Naxos Nr. 15
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 22
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 26
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 9
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 18
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 8
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

on Naxos Nr. 20
2010
30 x 21 cm
framed: 38.5 x 29.5 x 2.5 cm
various paints on paper

house and home Nr. 4
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

house and home Nr. 5
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

house and home Nr. 6
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

in addition Nr. 3
2011
in 8 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 60 x 60 x 5 cm
various paints on wood

in addition Nr. 5
2011
in 8 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 60 x 60 x 5 cm
various paints on wood

in addition Nr. 9
2011
in 8 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 60 x 60 x 5 cm
various paints on wood

in addition Nr. 8
2011
in 8 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 60 x 60 x 5 cm
various paints on wood

in addition Nr. 1
2011
in 8 parts
dimensions variable
each part: 60 x 60 x 5 cm
various paints on wood

house and home Nr. 1
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

house and home Nr. 2
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

house and home Nr. 3
2009
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 36 x 27 x 2.5 cm
colored pencil and collage on paper

New

Gallerynote 3/2025

Exhibition

CONTRASTES
October 9 to December 19, 2025

New publications

Richard Tuttle
Complete Interviews 1970–2022
Edited and with a Preface Interview by Dieter Schwarz

Glen Rubsamen
The Petrified Forest
Publisher: Glen Rubsamen

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INSIGHT #3 spotlights the graphic work of Fred Sandback through three examples from 1974 and 1982.

Antonio Calderara Riti di passaggio. Dalla figurazione all'arte concreta, Fondazione Marcello Morandini, Varese, through April 26, 2026

Dan Flavin | Donald Judd | Sol LeWitt | Agnes Martin
Minimal, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris
October 8, 2025 to January 18, 2026

Robert Wilson | Mother, MAXXI, Rome, through January 18, 2026

Jerry Zeniuk | Il colore, Museo Mirad'Or and Chiesa di Santa Maria della Neve , Pisogne, through February 15, 2026

Marisa Merz & Mario Merz | Eccoci qui ancora una volta, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Praga, Prague, through February 21, 2026

Fred Sandback Cuts into Spaces (group show), Hall Art Foundation, Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, ongoing
Sculpture, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, October 12, 2025 to July 2026

Giulio Paolini
A.R.S. Scaenica, permanent installation, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan
Roma nel mondo (group show), MAXXI, Rome, December 17, 2025 to April 6, 2026

Richard Tuttle | Giulio Paolini | Marisa Merz | Mario Merz
Long Story Short, Museum Brandhorst, München, bis Januar 2027

Sol LeWitt (1928–2007)
A Wall Drawing Retrospective
Yale University Art Gallery and Williams College Museum of Art
November 16, 2008 – 2033

ANNEMARIE VERNA GALLERY