BERNAR VENET (B. 1941)

With its curved steel arabesques spanning two metres in height and width, Ligne indéterminée is an elegant work from Bernar Venet’s celebrated series of the same name. Begun in 1979 and pursued throughout his oeuvre, these works explore the relationship between mathematical construction and the raw, intrinsic behaviour of the medium itself. Born in France, Venet came to prominence in 1960s New York, where he spent time in the company of Minimal and Conceptual artists including Donald Judd, Joseph Kosuth, On Kawara and Sol LeWitt. His early works explored base industrial materials such as coal and tar – indeed, his seminal installation Tas de Charbon is widely acknowledged as the first ever formless sculpture. Following a five-year break from art-making during the early 1970s, he refocused his practice on the properties of line, initially through a series of paintings and wall fixtures. Inspired by seeing an aluminium rod with a square cross section, Venet extended his investigations into the realm of sculpture, eventually embracing steel for its unpredictable, elemental properties. ‘It’s a battle between the piece of metal and me’, he explains. ‘… I suggest a direction to go, but I am guided by the metal bar, which resists me and will not yield to my desire for domination’ (B. Venet, quoted in A. Pierre, Bernar Venet, Milan 1999, p. 88). Monumental examples of Venet’s linear steel sculptures have graced major public sites over the years, including the Champ-de-Mars, Paris in 1994, the Château de Versailles in 2011 and – most recently – Belgium’s E411 highway in 2019.