UN/VEILED II | Devendra Banhart. Total Pink Cosmos in Square White Cloud
The exhibition Devendra Banhart. Total Pink Cosmos in Square White Cloud opens the Un/veiled project on 24 May (through 5 July). The exhibition traces different phases and aspects of Banhart’s artistic research through a selection of works on paper and new drawings created especially for this occasion. Devendra Banhart, even before embarking on his career as a musician, trained as a visual artist: art, music and poetry coexist in his research.
The artist has stated on several occasions that he has been strongly influenced by the work of Cy Twombly throughout his career. The sometimes intimate and meditative dimension (Haru, 2014) of some drawings seems reminiscent of Twombly’s early experiments on paper in the 1950s, the almost obsessive repetition of the same subject (Sphinx Interiors, 2014) recalls certain works by the American master which, produced in series, differ only in almost imperceptible details.
Banhart’s works on paper, like the poems and lyrics of his songs, are characterised by a visionary imagery. Phrases or fragments of words become an integral part of the drawings that the artist often uses as album covers (Monument, 2007; Monument, 2008).
The artist’s musical compositions are available to the public at the exhibition through the screening of the second part of the film OLA (2020), which features Banhart performing pieces from his 10 albums collection inside the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles.
It is Devendra Banhart himself who opens the performance programme of the second edition of Un/veiled on Saturday 25 May, performing live at the Foundation in an acoustic concert that takes us on a journey through his vast musical repertoire, which also includes some pieces from his latest album, Flying Wig (2023).
