Works by Michael Venezia, born 1935 in Brooklyn, undoubtedly represent some of the most original artistic works of Minimal Art. His spray paintings and bars duly follow the minimalist dictum of a spatialization of color and extension of the pictorial space. In contrast to Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, however, who chose the opposing path, namely to renounce painting entirely, Venezia devoted himself solely to painting. Inherent in his works are the characteristics of an aesthetic presence, as it can only be developped through painting: texture, paint application and processuality. Michael Venezia, taking minimalism into consideration, performs a parti­cular manoeuvre: He leads painting toward a condition of being a specific object, adding to the history of abstract expressionism a chapter on minimalism. This catalogue endeavors to assign Michael Venezia’s work its rightful place, from its beginnings right up until today. The careful presentation of the works is, therefore, inter­spersed with various autobiographical materials, as well as an entertaining and very informative interview with Michael Venezia by Tiffany Bell, herself known as an expert interpreter of Agnes Martin and Dan Flavin.

Michael Venezia emerged in the 1970s with a pictorial practice bordering on sculpture, and closely related to Minimal Art. His so-called Narrow-bar Paintings occupy a unique place in the contested zone between painting and sculpture. The cube-shaped wooden blocks are alligned on the wall at eye-level, compromizing a stabilizing horizontal zip around the exhibition space. The composition of the multi-partite blocks is determined by the temperature and the luminosity of the colours, drawing upon the Venetian colorist tradition. Colour is no longer a neutral element, but a fully-fledged medium.