Nineteen Eighty-FiveEva LeWitt and Landon Metz
Press release
VI, VII is thrilled to announce the opening of its new location in Vannkunsten (Bjørvika), Oslo a new fjord-side area of the city built on reclaimed land. The inaugural exhibition brings together the latest work of two New York based artists: Eva LeWitt and Landon Metz. Opening on May 28 at Operagata 75A the exhibition will remain on view through July 4.
In their respective practices, LeWitt and Metz work uniquely with color, abstraction, mutability and repeated forms. Both artists also experiment with modularity, allowing their works to connect and bond together in various groupings.
Over a decade, Metz has perfected a tranquil and meditative approach towards image-making which involves the same shape being hand-copied over consecutive panels. Made with fabric dye these works represent a perfect balance between pigment and water marked by distinct luminousity as the color harmonizes over canvas. In this exhibition he opts for standalone works however, made in a sapphire blue that calls to mind the sea just steps outside the gallery, and more subtly, the deep and vivid blue of the Norwegian flag.
The artist draws inspiration from the organic forms found in nature, elements that were often profound in his home state of Arizona, where magnificent formations of rock shaped over thousands of years mark the landscape visualizing a relationship between time, material, and form.
While Metz evokes visual dynamism and a sense of movement in his paintings, LeWitt’s sculptures explore volume and weight, and the tensions between industrial and hand-made fabrication.
Known for colorful and large-scale, site-responsive works, LeWitt has previously explored modularity connecting works at the top to form relaxed sculptural gatherings out of individual elements. With Hanging Spheres, LeWitt debuts an entirely new body of work made from hand-cut black rubber and reflective steel beads. Suspended from the ceiling, these groupings of two (Hanging Sphere 40, 66.5, 2021) and three sculptures, (Hanging Sphere 75, 56.5 and 43, 2021) respectively produce an optical illusion when moved around. The numbered titles of these works refer to the height of the spheres in inches.
The title of the show, Nineteen Eighty-Five, contains five letter “E’s” the exact number of sculptures by Eva LeWitt, and refers to the year of both artists’ birth.
About the Artists
Eva LeWitt was born in Spoleto, Italy in 1985 and lives and works in New York. Her work is represented exclusively by VI, VII, Oslo.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Untitled Mesh (A-J), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2019-2020); Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (2019); Untitled (Flora), The Jewish Museum, New York (2018) and an untitled solo exhibition at VI, VII, Oslo (2018).
Resin Towers A, B & C, the artist’s first outdoor works, are currently on view in Ground/Work at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Concurrently, Untitled (Mesh Circles), a fifteen meter-long wall-based installation by the artist is on view at the ICA Boston.
In 2022, the artist will present a solo project at Luhring Augustine’s Brooklyn space.
Eva LeWitt’s works are held in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway, and X Museum, Beijing as well as private collections around the world.
Landon Metz was born in Phoenix, Arizona has lived and worked in New York since 2009.
The artist’s work has been the subject of a 2018 solo exhibition at Museo Pietro Canonica in Rome. Notable group exhibitions include Blue at The Nassau County Museum of Art In New York, and Greffes, curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto at Villa Medici in Rome. In 2014, he was the artist in residence at the ADN Collection in Bolzano, Italy. In December 2021 a monograph on his work will be published by Hatje Cantz.
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Nineteen Eighty-Five
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
20 × 16 inches (50.80 × 40.64 cm)
Dye on Canvas
20 × 16 inches (50.80 × 40.64 cm)
Eva LeWitt, Hanging Sphere (75), Hanging Sphere (56.5) and Hanging Sphere (43), 2021
Rubber and stainless steel beads
96 × 51 × 17 inches (243.84 × 129.54 × 43.18 cm)
Rubber and stainless steel beads
96 × 51 × 17 inches (243.84 × 129.54 × 43.18 cm)
Landon Metz, Untitled, 2021
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
Dye on Canvas
40 × 32 inches (101.60 × 81.28 cm) (101.60 × 81.28 cm)
