«I continued to be interested in finding ways for paint to arrive on the surface – landing without my touching it.»
Michael Venezia

Häusler Contemporary Zürich is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition of Michael Venezia. With several works that have not been seen for a long time, the show again reveals his fundamental contribution to the renovation of painting after 1960. At the same time, an exhibition at Kunstverein Heilbronn also honors Venezia’s impact, as well as a new extensive publication published by Snoeck that was realized in cooperation with Häusler Contemporary.

Our second solo show of Michael Venezia (*1935, New York, US) draws a line from his cutting-edge pictorial inventions from around 1970 to recent works, that stand out in contemporary art’s variety by their concision and freshness. From his early years, we show »Stripe Paintings« that examine the independency of picture carrier and paint application. A main focus of our exhibition is on the impressive historical »Spray Paintings« some of which are on view for the first time in decades. At the end of the 1960s, the color spray gun allowed Venezia to abandon the brush stroke highly celebrated by Abstract Expressionism, thus generating his paintings from an interplay between artistic decisions and coincidences. Finally, we present recent »Bar Paintings« with which the artist pushes the boundaries between painting and object.