Barry Le Va (1941–2021) was an important figure in American art from the 1960s, part of a generation that included Eva Hesse, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman and Robert Morris. In A State of Flux is the first retrospective since Le Va’s death in 2021. The exhibition is a survey of his work from the 1960s to his last works and looks at the relationship between his drawing and sculpture with particular attention given to his early works.
Le Va was an innovator in the art of sculpture, with his Distribution or Scatter pieces from 1966 a breakthrough in terms of how art could be made and presented. The floor was his field of exploration, and he used a wide range and variety of materials, setting a scene for the viewer to engage in: ‘the viewer always participates. They aren’t just an audience. They’re a participating member, but not in the sense of performance’. His interest in transience, in sculpture as merely a short section of endlessly continuous time, has inspired generations of artists.
I hope that somehow people who see my sculptures are going to learn something through the process of investigating the work on its own terms. ~ Barry Le Va, 2003
The exhibition includes important sculptures such as On Center Shatter-or-Shatterscatter, 1968-71 (layers of shattered glass); Cleaved Wall, 1969-70 (meat cleavers embedded in the gallery walls); Right Angular Section (On a Diagonal), 1969 (chalk spread across a corner of the gallery floor); and Equal Quantities: Placed or Dropped In, Out and On in Relation to Specific Boundaries, 1967 (a seemingly random, precisely placed arrangement of felt and metal). A key theme in the exhibition is the dialogue in Le Va’s work between sculpture and drawing, and beautiful drawings made both in preparation for sculptures and as stand-alone artworks; collages and wood block prints complete the presentation.
Making an exhibition without the artist poses challenges with many questions asked about the execution and installation. This exhibition is curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, with the support of David Nolan, Le Va’s New York gallerist who worked closely with him, and Rolf Ricke, the German gallerist who first brought the work of Barry Le Va to Europe. It benefits from extensive research that has unearthed letters, notes and drawings that provide valuable information regarding installation, and discovered works in museums and private collections that have not been seen before for decades. The exhibition was first shown at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein from 26.04.24–29.09.24 and travels to Fruitmarket from 16.11.24–02.02.25, and then Museum Kurhaus Kleve in Spring 2025.
I guess at that time the body was a new territory, and it had to be investigated. ~ Barry Le Va
Christiane Meyer-Stoll, Chief Curator Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein said:
We are presenting the work of three-time documenta participant Barry Le Va with many discoveries. Equally, and for the first time, the exhibition exemplifies how to handle posthumously the work of an artist who cultivated process and his own form of improvisation.
Barry Le Va In a State of Flux
16.11.24 – 02.02.25
Fruitmarket, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF
Open daily 11am–6pm. Free.
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