DJCAD Dundee, UK September 2023 - Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt
Exhibition Forward We are delighted to host Dr Irene Barberis at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) as one of our Honorary Research Fellows, visiting from RMIT University in Australia. Irene's creative and curatorial research for the LeWitt Project, UK is highly complementary to our research, teaching and learning excellence and, as such, it has been an immense privilege to witness the fulsome development of Irene's own drawings and paintings for the new Sol LeWitt Studio Suite of Tapestries here in Dundee. These build on her experience of knowing Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) and the privilege of recently being in residence in Le Witt's studio in Chester, Connecticut as well as her own creative practice and extraordinary The Tapestry of Light, the creative energy and focus that Irene has brought to Dundee in a short space of time is exemplary. Her evocative and insightful monograph, SOL LEWITT Exploring the Chester Studio A VISUAL DOCUMENTATION, records Le Witt's studio as he left it for the first time and from the perspective of an artist with a first-hand knowledge of his working practice.
Alongside these creative endeavours, Irene's focus has been on developing the UK element of an ambitious multi-site, global exhibition project, Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots, and Place. This introductory exhibition is a key part of establishing a dialogue with others and to explore the influences of LeWitt in the UK, with Dundee as a centre for this exploration. These four artists - Fransje Killaars, Janet Passehl, Wilma Tabacco, and Irene Barberis herself - form the core of the exhibition as it takes on global dimensions and shift-shapes in each country, setting out a proposition for others to explore and connect the influence of Le Witt on contemporary practitioners across the world. We are grateful to all who have supported this significant research project -and to Irene for so generously sharing her research with us.
We very much look forward to realising the UK element of the Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots, and Place exhibition in Dundee in the future.
Professor Anita Taylor Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art &Design University of Dundee
Exhibition Forward by: Anita Taylor, Introduction: David S. Areford Core Artists and Artist Statements: Jant Passehl, Fransje Killaars, Irene Barberis and Wilma Tabacco.