Misericordia. Group Show at Prism, Los Angeles

Misericordia at Prism, Los Angeles, is an exhibition that brings together Masters from the Renaissance and work by contemporary artists. Curated by Birte Kleemann, it juxtaposes 15th to 17th Century Old Masters with performance video from the 1970s and contemporary artworks. For the show, Birte Kleemann, Director at The Pace Gallery, selected works that examine the treatment of Mercy as represented from devotional paintings to the use of the artist’s body as a metaphor for the suffering of humankind in contemporary works.

On display are works by the artists Marina Abramovic, Joseph Beuys, Monica Bonvicini, Louise Bourgeois, Chris Burden, James Lee Byars, Lucio Fontana, Terence Koh, Anders Krisár, Giovanni di Marco, Jonathan Meese, Giovanni Battista Naldini, Olaf Nicolai, Jen DeNike, Angel Otero, Antonio di Pietro, Sterling Ruby, Katharina Sieverding, Bill Viola, and xhafabdessemed (Sislej Xhafa and Adel Abdessemed). Misericordia emphasizes how these artists explore pain, fear and penance, in the sense that today we either fail to rejoice in God’s Mercy or that we are too occupied with personal matters to be merciful towards others.

For this show, the gallery has three exceptional works by Emile Antoine-Bourdelle, Felice Ficherelli and Alessandro Gherardini on loan from the Haukohl Family Collection, a world-class private collection based in Houston, Texas. It is the largest private collection of Florentine painting in America.

The catalog that accompanies the exhibition features essays by academic writers David Carrier, Alex Gartenfeld and Dimitri Ozerkov, and is designed by Jonathan Zawada.

Misericordia. Group show at Prism Gallery, Los Angeles, September 25, 2010. The exhibition runs through December 4, 2010.

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Misericordia. Art Exhibition at Prism Gallery LA

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