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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

François Morellet: In-Coherent

Jan 26 – Apr 7, 2021
32 E 69th Street, New York, NY 10021, United States

After encountering Concrete Art on a trip to Brazil in 1950, the painterly approach of French artist François Morellet shifted. He turned to abstraction. Further travel excited an interest in pattern and geometry—the anonymity of Islamic art was a key influence. Morellet, who died in 2016, is positioned at the crossroads of many movements: Conceptual art, minimalism, the kinetic art of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), and the practice of ego-suppression, in which chance is used to make aesthetic decisions. Morellet’s range expanded to include architectural sculpture, light and neon, and wall drawings. Spanning the years 1953 to 2013, this exhibition delves into the richness and breadth of a late master. —E.C.

François Morellet, 1965 © Studio Morellet/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: François Morellet.