BASEL.- Von Bartha announced representation of the Estate of Barry Flanagan in Switzerland, and representation of Francisco Sierra worldwide. Works by both artists feature in the gallery’s presentation at Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms, 19 – 26 June 2020. Additionally, works by Flanagan and Sierra will be presented in the group exhibition S-chanf 4 + 2, at the gallery’s S-chanf space, 30 June to 25 July 2020. Flanagan’s work Unihare on Crescent and Bell (1995) and Sierra’s Like a Fire (2020) will be shown alongside a selection of works by Anna Dickinson, Imi Knoebel, Landon Metz, and Beat Zoderer.
Stefan von Bartha, Director said: "It's with great pleasure that we are showing the work of Barry Flanagan within the gallery programme. I remember well the exhibitions my parents did over 20 years ago and since then I have followed and studied the work closely, so it means a lot to me to be showing the work of this outstanding artist. Francisco has been a favorite of mine since I discovered his work three years ago. After meeting him in person and getting to know his practice, it was logical for me that we would want to start working with such a promising artist from Switzerland. Both practices of Flanagan and Sierra mark a new area for the von Bartha programme and are important key figures in expanding the variety of von Bartha, particularly in 2020, our 50th anniversary year."
Barry Flanagan was a leading figure in a generation of influential sculptors emerging from St. Martins School of Art in the 1960s, where his peers included artists such as Richard Long and Gilbert & George. From early on, he used building materials such as sand, rope, hessian, string, glass, nets, plaster and polystyrene to make sculpture. These experimental works led him to be characterised as a Conceptual artist, although Flanagan did not particularly like this designation, and instead referred to himself as ‘a part-time Conceptual artist.’
The work of Chilean-Swiss artist Francisco Sierra considers and challenges the form of contemporary figurative painting. Sierra paints the reality of his subjects faithfully, but his chosen subjects are rarely representative of their appearance on face value. A self-taught visual artist, Sierra is interested in the transformation of apparent clarity into something new and enigmatic. Often working within the realms of both photorealism and surrealism, Sierra is occupied with the pitfalls of contemporary photographic reproduction and the transformative potential of painting, involving conceptual approaches.
