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Piero Golia

Piero Golia, The Painter, 2016 Motion control robot, canvas, acrylic paint, tape, and plastic bins, overall dimensions variable© Piero Golia. Photo: Daniele Molajoli

Piero Golia, The Painter, 2016

Motion control robot, canvas, acrylic paint, tape, and plastic bins, overall dimensions variable
© Piero Golia. Photo: Daniele Molajoli

Piero Golia, Intermission painting #4 red to gold, 2014 EPS foam, hard coat and pigment, 48 × 38 × 8 ½ inches (121.9 × 96.5 × 21.6 cm)Photo by Josh White

Piero Golia, Intermission painting #4 red to gold, 2014

EPS foam, hard coat and pigment, 48 × 38 × 8 ½ inches (121.9 × 96.5 × 21.6 cm)
Photo by Josh White

Piero Golia, Intermission painting #5 red to gold, 2014 EPS foam, hard coat and pigment, 95 × 50 × 9 inches (241.3 × 127 × 22.9 cm)Photo by Josh White

Piero Golia, Intermission painting #5 red to gold, 2014

EPS foam, hard coat and pigment, 95 × 50 × 9 inches (241.3 × 127 × 22.9 cm)
Photo by Josh White

Installation view, Piero Golia: Models, Monuments, and Sculptures on Pedestals, Gagosian, Paris, 2014 Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view, Piero Golia: Models, Monuments, and Sculptures on Pedestals, Gagosian, Paris, 2014

Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view, Piero Golia: Models, Monuments, and Sculptures on Pedestals, Gagosian, Paris, 2014 Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view, Piero Golia: Models, Monuments, and Sculptures on Pedestals, Gagosian, Paris, 2014

Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Piero Golia, The Dog and the Drop, 2013 Animatronic dog , solenoids and sync devicePhoto by Zarko Vijatovic

Piero Golia, The Dog and the Drop, 2013

Animatronic dog , solenoids and sync device
Photo by Zarko Vijatovic

Piero Golia, Studio (4/13/2013), 2013 Bronze, brass, aluminum, zinc alloy, copper, and stainless steel, 10 ½ × 38 ¾ × 39 inches (26.7 × 98.4 × 99.1 cm)

Piero Golia, Studio (4/13/2013), 2013

Bronze, brass, aluminum, zinc alloy, copper, and stainless steel, 10 ½ × 38 ¾ × 39 inches (26.7 × 98.4 × 99.1 cm)

Piero Golia, Upside down equestrian figure as public sculpture, 2013 Bronze and copper, 13 × 13 × 8 inches (33 × 33 × 20.3 cm)

Piero Golia, Upside down equestrian figure as public sculpture, 2013

Bronze and copper, 13 × 13 × 8 inches (33 × 33 × 20.3 cm)

Piero Golia, Untitled (My Gold is Yours), 2013 Gold and concrete, 98 3/16 × 98 3/16 × 98 3/16 inches (249.4 × 249.4 × 249.4 cm)

Piero Golia, Untitled (My Gold is Yours), 2013

Gold and concrete, 98 3/16 × 98 3/16 × 98 3/16 inches (249.4 × 249.4 × 249.4 cm)

Piero Golia, Gold and Concrete Cube at the Venice Biennale, 2013 Bronze, tin, and anodized aluminum, 30 × 30 × 8 inches (76.2 × 76.2 × 20.3 cm)

Piero Golia, Gold and Concrete Cube at the Venice Biennale, 2013

Bronze, tin, and anodized aluminum, 30 × 30 × 8 inches (76.2 × 76.2 × 20.3 cm)

Piero Golia, Clone, 2011 Stainless steel, glass, marble and light, 28 × 9 ⅞ × 9 ⅞ inches (71.1 × 25.1 × 25.1 cm), edition of 5Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Piero Golia, Clone, 2011

Stainless steel, glass, marble and light, 28 × 9 ⅞ × 9 ⅞ inches (71.1 × 25.1 × 25.1 cm), edition of 5
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Piero Golia, Untitled #11, 2011 Cast concrete, 3 ¾ × 8 ¾ × 8 ¾ inches (9.5 × 22.2 × 22.2 cm)

Piero Golia, Untitled #11, 2011

Cast concrete, 3 ¾ × 8 ¾ × 8 ¾ inches (9.5 × 22.2 × 22.2 cm)

Piero Golia, Constellation Painting #8, 2011 Resin and debris, 60 × 48 × 10 inches (152.4 × 121.9 × 25.4cm)Photo by Joshua White

Piero Golia, Constellation Painting #8, 2011

Resin and debris, 60 × 48 × 10 inches (152.4 × 121.9 × 25.4cm)
Photo by Joshua White

Installation view, Piero Golia: Concrete Cakes and Constellation Paintings, Gagosian, Beverly Hills, 2011 Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view, Piero Golia: Concrete Cakes and Constellation Paintings, Gagosian, Beverly Hills, 2011

Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Piero Golia, Piero Golia: Posters 2003–2010, 2010 24 posters in artist's frame, Dimensions variable

Piero Golia, Piero Golia: Posters 2003–2010, 2010

24 posters in artist's frame, Dimensions variable

About

I’ve always had a problem with the abstract model. I’m more interested in the interstices between poetry and reality. And with art, in a way, I’m trying to do the same thing by pushing reality to become abstraction and poetry. 
—Piero Golia

Italian-born, Los Angeles–based artist Piero Golia is a sculptor of situations. His works—which at times take physical form, often at an architectural scale, and at others are immaterial—are statements aimed at expanding the possibilities of art. His practice is heterogeneous and unpredictable, employing diverse mediums and methods to spark chain reactions that, even when they leave no objects or images behind, have the capacity to alter our perception.

As a young man in Naples, Golia studied chemical engineering, learning about the transformation of raw materials into powerful energy sources. Such a concept captures a crucial aspect of his artistic approach, in which he takes preexisting objects from lived reality as the starting point for a set of actions that unfold, displacing initial meanings and functions.

Drawn to the varied cultural associations of Los Angeles, where he has lived and worked since 2002, Golia has produced a vast number of artworks inspired by or situated in the city itself. For example, Luminous Sphere (2010), a five-foot-tall orb installed on the roof of West Hollywood’s Standard Hotel, is only illuminated when the artist is in town; like a sacred presence expressed in LA vernacular, the mysterious cipher awaits projection of meaning from the casual passerby unaware of what drives its pattern of illumination. “It’s a form open to urban legend,” the artist muses. In 2008 Golia was invited to take over a booth at the Art LA fair; his contribution was to completely fill the space with a full-sized passenger bus that had been dramatically crushed by bulldozers to fit the dimensions of the exhibition space.

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Fairs, Events & Announcements

Piero Golia, The Best Is Yet to Come, 2020 © Piero Golia

Auction

Printed Matter
Spring Benefit Auction

May 24–June 8, 2023

This online benefit auction for Printed Matter features over sixty donated artworks—some of which were created especially for the fundraiser—by contemporary artists, including Richard ArtschwagerPiero GoliaAdam McEwenRichard PrinceEd RuschaTaryn Simon, and Jonas Wood. Proceeds from the auction, which is hosted by Artsy, will support the nonprofit organization’s mission to further the distribution, understanding, and appreciation of artist’s books and related publications.

Piero Golia, The Best Is Yet to Come, 2020 © Piero Golia

Mary Weatherford, Sunset, Western Cape, 2020 © Mary Weatherford. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio

Auction

Venice Family Clinic Art Walk
Benefit Auction 2021

April 28–May 12, 2021

Venice Family Clinic presents its annual benefit auction, a fundraising event whose proceeds will provide essential health care services to people in the community regardless of their income, immigration, or insurance status. Since its inception forty years ago, this charity event has raised more than $23 million. This year’s auction, hosted on Artsy, is honoring Mary Weatherford as the “signature artist” and features more than two hundred works by nationally recognized contemporary artists, including Piero Golia, Ed Ruscha, Robert Therrien, as well as Weatherford. To register to bid, visit artsy.net.

Mary Weatherford, Sunset, Western Cape, 2020 © Mary Weatherford. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio

Jeff Koons, Bluebird Planter, 2010–16 © Jeff Koons

Art Fair

FIAC Online 2021
Printemps oublié

March 2–12, 2021

Gagosian is pleased to present Printemps oublié for the first online edition of FIAC. This curated presentation reflects the dual character of springtime as a reminder of past trials and the harbinger of a vibrant new season to come.

All the artworks will appear on the Gagosian website and a rotating selection will appear in the inaugural FIAC Online Viewing Rooms, from March 4 to 7.

Jeff Koons, Bluebird Planter, 2010–16 © Jeff Koons

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Museum Exhibitions

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None of the Above
2004–2020

September 24–November 15, 2020
Kanal–Centre Pompidou, Brussels
www.kanal.brussels

For None of the Above, John Armleder invited artists to present a work of art that is either no bigger than a postage stamp or immaterial. Originally presented at the Swiss Institute in New York in 2004, this new staging of the exhibition forces visitors to search for the artworks in the form of a conceptual treasure hunt conceived by Armleder. Work by Piero Golia, Olivier Mosset, and Blair Thurman is included.

Piero Golia’s performance of Roman Trilogy at Villa Medici–Académie de France à Rome, 2016. Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Sebastiano Luciano

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Piero Golia

January 18–March 21, 2020
La Fondazione, Rome
www.lafondazione.info

This is the third and final performance of the Roman Trilogy, which premiered at Villa Medici–Académie de France à Rome in 2002, and was performed there again in 2016. In this work Piero Golia uses language, performers, music, fire, and more to expose the public to a “total work of art,” or Gesamtkunstwerk, an unforgettable experience. During the event, Golia will leave a “sign” on the floor of La Fondazione, which visitors can view through March 21, 2020.

Piero Golia’s performance of Roman Trilogy at Villa Medici–Académie de France à Rome, 2016. Artwork © Piero Golia. Photo: Sebastiano Luciano

Douglas Gordon, Déjà-Vu, 2000
, installation view, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles. Artwork © Studio lost but found/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
. D.O.A., 1950, USA. Directed by Rudolph Maté. Produced by Joseph H. Nadel, Harry M. Popkin, and Leo C. Popkin. Distributed by United Artists © Cardinal Pictures. Photo: Brian Forrest
 

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In Production
Art and the Studio System

November 7, 2019–March 1, 2020
Yuz Museum, Shanghai
www.yuzmshanghai.org

In Production: Art and the Studio System emphasizes the overlapping histories of visual art and film, with a particular focus on how the site of the studio, both in visual arts and in cinematic production, has radically shifted in the last twenty years. The exhibition highlights the exceptional gifts and acquisitions related to film and video that have entered the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s permanent collection in recent years including work by Piero Golia, Douglas Gordon, Alex Israel, and Mike Kelley.

Douglas Gordon, Déjà-Vu, 2000
, installation view, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles. Artwork © Studio lost but found/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
. D.O.A., 1950, USA. Directed by Rudolph Maté. Produced by Joseph H. Nadel, Harry M. Popkin, and Leo C. Popkin. Distributed by United Artists © Cardinal Pictures. Photo: Brian Forrest
 

Piero Golia, Solutions to Mortality (George Washington Nose), 2018. Photo by Manfredi Gioacchini

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Piero Golia
Solutions to Mortality

January 20–April 1, 2018
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas
webs.wichita.edu

Solutions to Mortality is the result of Piero Golia’s Grafly commission at the Ulrich Museum. This commission invites artists to respond to the museum’s large collection of artwork by Charles M. Grafly. For his exhibition Golia has placed three works in the sculpture park of the museum: a cast of George Washington’s nose copied from Mount Rushmore, an upside-down statue of Garibaldi, and a section of the wall that separates Los Angeles from Orange County.

Piero Golia, Solutions to Mortality (George Washington Nose), 2018. Photo by Manfredi Gioacchini

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Press

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