Photo: courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center

The ‘salon’ will be called “Chalet Dallas,” and it’ll be designed by artist Piero Golia, who is, naturally, a conceptual artist, with architect Edwin Chan, who collaborated with Frank Gehry before creating his own company, EC3. Golia has done this kind of ‘artists’ hangout’ before — in Los Angeles — only in that case, it was in an out-of-the-way place, you had to be ‘in the know’ to know about. Here, he’ll transform the Nasher’s corner gallery with “white oak wood furniture and chandeliers, Venetian blue plastered walls, cork wood floors and works of art by Pierre Huyghe” — which, in LA, was a giant aquarium.

In any event, the “chalet” will be open during the day  (October 3, 2015 – February 7, 2016) to anyone who wants to check it out, but during “certain evenings, it will have a different life as an artists’ salon in the tradition of Gertrude Stein’s Paris apartment.”

Perhaps Ernest Hemingway will drop by. Then Stein will help him with his writing. Years later, Hemingway will have his revenge in print — as he did with most who helped him. One can only hope “Chalet Dallas” will be as creative and … you know. Entertaining.

A retrospective on Giuseppe Penone will be the first show to open in the fall. A young member of the “Arte Povera” (“poor art”) movement in Italy in the late ’60s, Penone has continually explored the links between humanity and nature, between aesthetic and natural forms — first in the forest near Garessio where he was born (tree trunks featured a lot in these pieces) and later with the ‘natural forms’ sometimes being his own body (he’s grown vegetables in the shape of his face and then cast them in bronze). Being the River, Repeating the Forest will feature conceptual and sculpture works from throughout his career.

The “Sightings” show (meaning it’ll be in the Nasher’s lower, smaller gallery) will feature the work of LA pop artist-ironist-entrepreneur Alex Israel, who’s started his own line of sunglasses (Freeway Eyeware) and online TV show (As It LAys — a joke on the famous Joan Didion LA-angst novel, Play It As It Lays). At the Nasher, he plans to combine “new sculptural objects made in the vernacular vocabulary of Hollywood movies with objects from the Nasher Collection.”

The full release:

Nasher Sculpture Center Announces Fall 2015 Exhibitions
Three back-to-back exhibitions present a wide range of approaches to sculpture

DALLAS, Texas (May 26, 2012) – The Nasher Sculpture Center announces three exhibitions for fall 2015, featuring approximately 20 works spanning the career of the influential Italian Arte Povera artist, Giuseppe Penone; an immersive and evolving social installation by LA-based artist and Italiannative, Piero Golia; and a medley of objects related to Hollywood and pop-culture by Los Angelesnative, Alex Israel.

“This fall, the Nasher offers an unprecedented variety of exhibitions, from the meditative, process rich work of the influential Italian artist Giuseppe Penone to the participatory and socially-activated space of Piero Golia’s Chalet Dallas to the pop culture-infused objects of Alex Israel,” says Director Jeremy Strick. “These shows promise to shift how we engage with the space of the Nasher, with the natural world, and with each other in ways that are surprising and profound.”

The fall exhibition schedule runs from September 19, 2015 to February 7, 2016.

Giuseppe Penone: Being the River, Repeating the Forest
September 19, 2015 – January 10, 2016
Italian artist Giuseppe Penone has played an integral role in the development of art over the past five decades. From his conceptual and performative works of the 1960s and 70s to the large-scale sculptural installations of the past ten years, Penone has explored intimate, sensate, and metaphysical connections with nature. Working in a stunning variety of materials—including clay, wood, stone, metal, plaster, resin, acacia thorns—the artist makes palpable and present the
analogous processes of nature and art: carving large trees along their growth patterns to reveal the sapling contained within; elaborating the interior space of his closed hand into a large-scale sculpture that both contains his hand and enlarges the space it contains; rendering the swirling mists of his breath in the cold in tactile clay forms that contain the impression of his body. The exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center will feature a selection of work in a variety of materials highlighting the development of Penone’s ideas over the course of his career.

Piero Golia: Chalet Dallas
October 3, 2015 – February 7, 2016
In collaboration with architect Edwin Chan, artist Piero Golia has designed a physical space that will completely transform the Nasher’s corner gallery into a luxurious salon comprised of fine materials such as white oak wood furniture and chandeliers, Venetian blue plastered walls, cork wood floors and works of art by Pierre Huyghe, Mark Grotjahn, and Jeff Wall. Golia’s intention is to create an intimate gathering spot for influential and creative minds to meet and interact in a relaxed and beautiful environment. The artist also seeks to provide an entertaining and unpredictable structure to organized gatherings. During the daytime it will be a space that museum visitors can walk into, see, and experience, but during certain evenings it will have a different life as an artists’ salon in the tradition of Gertrude Stein’s Paris apartment.

Sightings: Alex Israel
October 24, 2015 – January 31, 2016
The work of Alex Israel deals in the images and cultural eccentricities of his native Los Angeles. From his sunglass company Freeway Eyewear to his YouTube talk show called As it LAys, wherein he interviews famous and not-so-famous Hollywood personalities, Israel is always plumbing the surface of the iconic pop culture of LA to better understand its global influence. For his Sightings exhibition at the Nasher, Israel will combine new sculptural objects made in the vernacular vocabulary of Hollywood movies with objects from the Nasher Collection to make quasi-narrative
installations within the gallery.

About the Nasher Sculpture Center:

Located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District, the Nasher Sculpture Center is home to the Raymond
and Patsy Nasher Collection, one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculpture in
the world, featuring more than 300 masterpieces by Calder, de Kooning, di Suvero, Giacometti,
Gormley, Hepworth, Kelly, Matisse, Miró, Moore, Picasso, Rodin, Serra, and Shapiro, among others.
The longtime dream of the late Nashers, the museum occupies a 2.4-acre site and is comprised of a
55,000 square-foot building designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano, and a 1.4 acre
garden designed in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker. The museum seamlessly
integrates the indoor galleries with the outdoor garden spaces, creating a museum experience unlike
any other in the world. On view in the light-filled galleries and amid the garden grounds are a rotating
selection of works from the Collection, as well as important exhibitions of modern and contemporary
sculpture, including Sightings, a series of small-scale exhibitions and site-specific installations that
explore new work by established and emerging artists. In addition to the indoor and outdoor gallery
spaces, the Center contains an auditorium, education and research facilities, a cafe, and a store.
Conceived for the exhibition, study, and conservation of modern and contemporary sculpture, the
Nasher Sculpture Center also presents a diverse array of educational and cultural programs in
dialogue with the Collection and special exhibitions, such as 360: Artists, Critics, Curators, a lecture
series featuring art-world visionaries in conversations focused on sculptural themes.
The Nasher Sculpture Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm, and from 10 am
to 5 pm on the first Saturday of each month. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for
students, and free for children 12 and under and members, and includes ac