Josh Smith, ILLUMInazioni–ILLUMInations, at the 54th Venice Biennale

American artist Josh Smith (b.1976) will exhibit as part of a group show at the 54th Venice Biennale. 
The exhibition will be laid out in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and in the Arsenale, forming a single itinerary, featuring 83 artists from all over the world, including 32 young artists born after 1975, as well as 32 women artists. The director, Bice Curiger, asked four participating artists to create “parapavilions”, architectural and sculptural structures erected in the Giardini and the Arsenale to house the works of other artists.
Josh Smith has created a design for the facade of the Palace of Exhibitions (previously known as the Italian Pavilion). An 1895 colonnaded structure, it is the first thing visitors see when they walk through the Giardini di Castello’s iron gates, into where the national pavilions are located – known simply as the Giardini.
According to The New York Times, “…Mr. Smith is toying with the idea of putting the word Illumi-nations (the title of the exhibition, but with a dash that splits it in a way that highlights the word nations) in large blue letters across the building. (At the last Biennale, John Baldessari took over the facade with image of sky, sea and palm trees.) To some Mr. Smith’s contribution might feel like urban scrawl, but he described his vision as “more of a mannered style of graffiti.”
For further information, please visit the Biennale website
http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/54.html
The New York Times review
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/arts/design/josh-smith-brant-foundatio…
Image courtesy Artnet.com