Coinciding with the 59th Biennale di Venezia, the Ateneo Veneto presents new paintings by Daniel Richter in the rooms of the Scuola Grande di San Fantin from 21 April - 25 September 2022. The works are shown in the palazzo’s historical setting amidst its remarkable decorative programme and alongside 17th-century works permanently installed at the museum.
Large-scale oil paintings by Richter are exhibited in the Aula Magna on the ground floor, while the Sala Tommaseo on the upper floor offers insights into the artist’s archive through a selection of books, ephemera and paraphernalia, alongside new ink drawings and collages.
Built as a caritative institution which offered spiritual guidance for those sentenced to death, the building was converted into an educational institution when the fraternity was dissolved in the 19th century. Today, the Ateneo Veneto accommodates a museum and a major cultural institution, offering a unique setting for Daniel Richter's latest series of works.
Treading the path between abstraction and figuration, Richter has formulated a pictorial language of his own. His figures are linked together in violently distorted poses, seeming to float in an indefinable cosmos. The exhibition’s title, Limbo, can refer both to the spiritual space inhabited by souls waiting to ascend to heaven and to the acrobatic dance of backbending that Richter’s figures seem to perform.
An artist book with an essay written by the curator Eva Meyer-Hermann was published to accompany the exhibition. To purchase the publication, please click here.
