FONDATION CAB Brussels is honoured to host an exhibition dedicated to the American artist Richard Nonas (1936 – 2021, New York). The exhibition offers a fascinating immersion into the singular world of Nonas, a sculptor whose work is distinguished by a profound exploration of space, matter and perception.
Through his works, often composed of raw materials such as wood, metal and stone, he creates minimalist sculptures that question the relationship between the object and its environment. Nonas explores how these simple elements, through their placement and form, can transform our perception of place, evoking sensations of stability and imbalance.
From 1962 to 1970 Richard Nonas worked as an ethnologist and lived with Indians in the Sonora desert in Mexico. In the 1970s, he developed an artistic practice there and became a member of the group Anarchitecture, a social and political critique of what architecture can be: confinement, compartmentalisation, reproduction, functionalist character with Gordon Matta Clark and Richard Serra. Richard Nonas pursues his experience as an ethnologist through his artistic approach, since his aim is always to understand the complexity of the world around him.
Among the highlights of the exhibition are works in wood that stretch across the walls of the Foundation, creating a tension between emptiness and volume. Blocks of stone laid out on the floor, inviting visitors to redefine their path through the space, and more intimate works on paper.
Through his unique approach, Richard Nonas questions the boundaries between art and architecture, between the natural and the artificial. His works, despite their apparent simplicity, carry a powerful emotional and intellectual charge, inviting viewers to reflect on their relationship with the objects and spaces in which they inhabit. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to discover the world of Richard Nonas, an artist whose work continues to resonate powerfully in the contemporary art landscape. It promises a captivating visual and sensory experience, reaffirming the power of minimalist sculpture in our understanding of space and form.
The exhibition is open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm to 6pm.
