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Extended through November 30, 2019

Giuseppe Penone

Foglie di bronzo / Leaves of Bronze

September 12–November 30, 2019
San Francisco

Installation view Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Works Exhibited

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2017 Bronze and river stone, 71 ⅝ × 77 ¾ × 37 ¼ inches (182 × 197.5 × 94.5 cm)© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2017

Bronze and river stone, 71 ⅝ × 77 ¾ × 37 ¼ inches (182 × 197.5 × 94.5 cm)
© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2017 (detail) Bronze and river stone, 71 ⅝ × 77 ¾ × 37 ¼ inches (182 × 197.5 × 94.5 cm)© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2017 (detail)

Bronze and river stone, 71 ⅝ × 77 ¾ × 37 ¼ inches (182 × 197.5 × 94.5 cm)
© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Giuseppe Penone, Geometria del pensiero (Geometry of Thought), 2016 Coffee and pencil on paper, 18 ⅞ × 13 inches (48 × 33 cm)© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Giuseppe Penone, Geometria del pensiero (Geometry of Thought), 2016

Coffee and pencil on paper, 18 ⅞ × 13 inches (48 × 33 cm)
© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

About

The bifurcations of the trees that appear so intimately human to us . . . The bifurcations of the fingers, by their movement through space, form the branches, the roots, and by the succession of actions in the same points, construct the branches and trunk of the plant. The woodland landscape is the action of sculpture.
—Giuseppe Penone

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of sculptures and drawings by Giuseppe Penone, his first in San Francisco.

Penone uses objects from the natural world to document the intertwined relationship between humans and nature in evolution over a macroscopic, geological timeline. He was a proponent of the radical Arte Povera movement, beginning in Italy in the 1960s, which used “poor” and unconventional materials such as soil or plant matter to evoke a preindustrial age and subtly critique systems of industrialization, mechanization, and art. Penone’s earliest works included site-specific sculptures situated in the woods around his Piedmont hometown—the start of a decades-long fascination with the arboreal that is still prevalent in his work today.

This exhibition will feature a selection of works in bronze, stone, and marble illustrating Penone’s ability to seamlessly transpose human-made and naturally occurring patterns. In Respirare l’ombra – foglie di tè (To Breathe the Shadow – Leaves of Tea) (2008), a branch-like pair of bronze lungs emerges from a metal-gridded wall of tea leaves, creating a direct link between plant respiration and the inhalation and exhalation of human breath. Freestanding sculptures such as the cast bronze foliage of Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves) (2014–17) compare traces made by the artist’s hand to the weathering and degenerative marks made on plants and minerals as they are left to the elements.

Read more

Still from the video Giuseppe Penone at Fort Mason showing the artist's 2004 sculpture Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone) installed at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

Giuseppe Penone at Fort Mason

An outdoor installation by Giuseppe Penone in San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason features two life-size bronze sculptures cast from fallen trees. The project continues the artist’s long investigation of the perpetual give-and-take between humans and nature. In this video, Penone discusses what drew him to this landscape and the concepts behind the installation.

Installation view of Giuseppe Penone’s exhibition at Gagosian, San Francisco. A bronze sculpture and a wall-mounted sculpture including leaves.

Giuseppe Penone: Foglie di bronzo / Leaves of Bronze

Gagosian director Pepi Marchetti Franchi speaks about Giuseppe Penone’s recent exhibition in San Francisco, detailing the various works and their relationships to the artist’s long-standing sculptural practice.

Jordan Wolfson’s House with Face (2017) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Fall 2022

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2022

The Fall 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Jordan Wolfson’s House with Face (2017) on its cover.

Photograph of the execution of Giuseppe Penone’s frottages in La Tourette, Éveux, France. Giuseppe Penone, Le Bois Sacré (The Sacred Forest), 2022, prepared canvas oil and wax pastel

Giuseppe Penone À La Tourette

Le Couvent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, in Éveux, France, is both an active Dominican priory and the last building designed by Le Corbusier. As a result, the priory, completed in 1961, is a center both religious and architectural, a site of spiritual significance and a magnetic draw for artists, writers, architects, and others. This fall, at the invitation of Frère Marc Chauveau, Giuseppe Penone will be exhibiting a selection of existing sculptures at La Tourette alongside new work directly inspired by the context and materials of the building. Here, Penone and Frère Chauveau discuss the power and peculiarities of the space, as well as the artwork that will be exhibited there.

Augurs of Spring

Augurs of Spring

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, Sydney Stutterheim reflects on the iconography and symbolism of the season in art both past and present.

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004, installation view, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 2019–2021.

Giuseppe Penone: By the Bay

Elizabeth Mangini writes on Giuseppe Penone’s installation of two sculptures at San Francisco’s Fort Mason.

News

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004, installation view, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 2019–21 © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Matthew Millman

Public Installation

Giuseppe Penone at Fort Mason

October 24, 2019–March 28, 2021
Fort Mason, San Francisco
parksconservancy.org

Gagosian presents an outdoor installation by Giuseppe Penone in San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason. Two sculptures by Penone—La logica del vegetale (The Logic of the Vegetal) (2012) and Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone) (2004)—will be installed in Fort Mason’s Great Meadow, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. This project is presented in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area through the Art in the Parks program. To attend the opening reception on Thursday, October 24, from 5 to 6:30pm, RSVP to rsvpsf@gagosian.com.

Download the full press release (PDF)

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004, installation view, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 2019–21 © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Matthew Millman

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004, installation view, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 2019–21 © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Archivio Penone

Opening

Giuseppe Penone at Fort Mason

Thursday, October 24, 2019, 5–6:30pm
Great Meadow, Fort Mason, San Francisco
www.parksconservancy.org

As the sun sets over the San Francisco Bay, join us to celebrate the opening of a public installation of two large-scale bronze sculptures by Giuseppe Penone in San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason. The evening will include brief remarks by Gagosian’s Charlie Spalding with a drinks reception to follow. To attend the free event, RSVP to rsvpsf@gagosian.com.

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2004, installation view, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 2019–21 © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Archivio Penone

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2014 (detail) © 2019 Giuseppe Penone/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Archivio Penone

Tour

Giuseppe Penone
Foglie di bronzo / Leaves of Bronze

Saturday, September 14, 2019, 3pm
Gagosian, San Francisco

Join Gagosian for a tour of Giuseppe Penone’s first solo exhibition in San Francisco. Penone uses objects from the natural world to document the intertwined relationship between humans and nature. Gagosian’s Graham Dalik will provide an overview of the artist’s career, from his early works as a major figure of the Arte Povera movement in the 1960s to the present day, and offer an in-depth look at a selection of the sculptures on view in the show.  To attend the free event, RSVP to sftours@gagosian.com.

Giuseppe Penone, Pensieri di foglie (Thoughts of Leaves), 2014 (detail) © 2019 Giuseppe Penone/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Archivio Penone