Monuments of the Memory

New York
The Refectory, The High Line Hotel
February 19, 2015
One-night viewing by invitation, followed by private viewings in the hotel’s salon
Curation and scenography

Paris
Sans Titre
May 2016
Curation and scenography

Monuments of the Memory is a series of twenty monotypes by Paolo Canevari, commissioned by Le Livre Art Publishing from his ongoing series of the same name. Each work is an aquatint etching printed from seven plates of different shapes and sizes, inked entirely in black and arranged differently on every sheet, so that no two prints are alike. The twenty sheets were kept in a handmade black silk portfolio, the écrin in which they were presented during the private viewings. The works were first shown on February 19, 2015, in the Refectory at the High Line Hotel, New York, followed by private viewings in the hotel’s salon, and again in Paris in 2016, at Sans Titre.

The series marked a departure from Canevari’s earlier work, which had dealt with political and religious themes. It turned instead toward abstraction, in response to what the artist calls the “visual pollution” created by an excess of information. The dimensions of the works are borrowed from masterpieces of art history, measurements that, together with the black, leave the mind free to find its own references, memories and sensations. Jet-black geometric forms are set against white in dramatic juxtapositions, creating an absence of distraction and referencing ancient religious efforts to give form to the intangible. Shirin Neshat, in conversation with the artist, described them as “directly conceptualizing the idea of void — absence — as if you are forcing your viewer to conjure what is missing.” In Canevari’s words, “it’s like closing your eyes by keeping them open.” His most minimalist works at the time, they were inspired by the relationship between the meditative and the creative act.

Harlan & Weaver, longtime friends and collaborators of the Jancovici family, opened their New York studio to the project and gave it all their care and knowledge; the prints were made there by Johee Kim. The portraits of Canevari for the project were taken by his friend, the photographer Francesco Carrozzini.

The exhibition was conceived to engage every sense. The prints held the eye; an original ambient sound piece by composer and sound designer Christine Webster, written in response to the series, filled the room; a candle designed by Le Livre with Canevari, a small monolith with notes of pine needles, knotted marjoram and cedar, carried its scent; and in New York as in Paris, the food and drinks passed on small trays were composed entirely in black, like the works. The senses were not a way out of the work, but a way within.