Lawrence Weiner

Lawrence Charles Weiner (February 10, 1942 – December 2, 2021) was an artist born and raised in New York City. One of the central figures in the formation of Conceptual Art in the 1960s, Lawrence Weiner explored the potentials of language as a sculptural medium.

Early life Lawrence Weiner was born premature in Manhattan, to Toba Horowitz and Harold Weiner. He traveled throughout Mexico, America, and Canada before eventually returning to New York City in the mid-sixties.

Early career (1960–1970)

Before he began to use language as a sculptural medium, Weiner produced two distinct series of paintings in the 1960s which he exhibited with Seth Siegelaub: Propellor Paintings (1964-1966) and Removal Paintings (1966-1968). These painting series were concerned with “idea of painting rather than a painting”, but are still inherently bound to the physical constraints of a specific object, a paradoxical issue. The "Declaration of Intent" often accompanies a presentation of Weiner's work:

The first condition recalls the traditional relationship between the artist and the artwork. The second condition permits the work to be ‘fabricated’ by someone other than the artist. Finally, the work does not need to be acted upon at all, it can simply exist as language or an idea to function as art. Weiner uses the general term ‘receiver’ for any individual, collector, gallery, or museum who accepted the responsibility of ownership under these conditions. Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016), and the Nivola Museum, Orani, Italy (2019).

He participated in Documenta V (1972), VI (1977), VII (1982) and XXIII (2012). He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1972, 1984, 2003, and 2013. 2024, "OF & ABOUT POSTERS: The Lawrence Weiner Posters Archive (1965 - 2021)", Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver 2023, "UNDER THE SUN", AmorePacific Museum of Art (APMA), Seoul 2023, "Artists Rooms: Lawrence Weiner", Tate Modern, London, UK 2023, "LAWRENCE WEINER: WITHIN A REALM OF RELATIVE FORM", Lisson Gallery, Beijing 2022, "AS LONG AS IT LASTS", Mai 36, Zurich 2022, "APROPOS LAWRENCE WEINER", Marian Goodman Gallery, NYC 2021, "AROUND THE WORLD", Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon 2021, "CLOSE TO A RAINBOW", Holstebro Kunstmuseum, Holstebro 2020, "TRACCE/TRACES", Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome 2020, "ON VIEW", Regen Projects, Los Angeles 2019, "ATTACHED BY EBB & FLOW", Museo Nivola, Orani 2019, "LONG AGO FAR AWAY", OSL Contemporary, Oslo 2018, "WATER & SOME OF ITS FORMS", Taro Nasu Gallery, Tokyo 2017, "LAWRENCE WEINER: INHERENT INNATE TENSION", Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee 2016, "WHEREWITHAL | WAS ES BRAUCHT", Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria 2015, "WITHIN A REALM OF DISTANCE", Blenheim Art Foundation, Oxfordshire 2015, "Straight Down to Below: Lawrence Weiner ", Artist Rooms on Tour at Tate Modern and National Galleries of Scotland), Woodhorn Museum, Northumberland, Scotland 2014, "Lawrence Weiner: ALL IN DUE COURSE", South London Gallery, London 2014, "CRISCROSSED ENTRECUZADO", Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon 2013 - 2014, "Lawrence Weiner: WRITTEN IN THE WIND", Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 2012, "BE THAT AS IT MAY", Lisson Gallery, London 2012, "Lawrence Weiner: NO TREE NO BRANCH", The Jewish Museum, New York 2011, "A SYNTAX OF DEPENDENCY" (with Liam Gillick), Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium 2010, "AS TO BE IN PLAIN SIGHT", Denver Art Museum, Colorado 2010, "GYROSCOPICALLY SPEAKING", Marian Goodman Gallery, New York 2010, "Lawrence Weiner in the House of Art", České Budějovice, Czech Republic 2008, "LAWRENCE WEINER: QUID PRO QUO", Gagosian Gallery, Rome 2008, "OFFSIDES", Lisson Gallery, London 2008 "A SELECTION OF SHORT FILMS AND VIDEOS BY LAWRENCE WEINER", UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing 2008, "DEMATERIALIZING CINEMA-THE FILMS OF LAWRENCE WEINER" Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Boston 2007 - 2008, "Lawrence Weiner: AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE", at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 2007, "Lawrence Weiner: Inherent in the Rhumb Line", at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England 2005, "WITHIN A REALM OF RELATIVE FORM", Lisson Gallery, London 2004, "WITH ALL DUE INTENT", Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon 2003, "LE DESTIN LA DESTINÉE", Yvon Lambert, Paris 2000, "UNDER THE APPLE TREE", Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy 1998, "WRITTEN ON THE WIND", Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany 1997, "TOWARDS MOTION", Canary Wharf, London. 1996, "BADLY MIXED CONCRETE", Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna 1995, "TO BUILD A SQUARE IN THE RHINELAND", Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Museum Ludwig, Cologne 1995, "LEARN TO READ ART: Lawrence Weiner - The Books", New York Public Library, New York 1993, "SPECIFIC & GENERAL WORKS. 1968 - SEPT. 1993" Le Nouveau Musée/Institut d'Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne 1993, "AS LONG AS IT LASTS", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 1992, "CHAINS WRAPPED AROUND ONE THING & ANOTHER BROKEN ONE BY ONE WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco 1991, "DISPLACEMENT", Dia Center for the Arts, New York 1991, "DROPPED STONES", Leo Castelli Gallery, New York 1991, "SPHERES OF INFLUENCE", Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1990, "WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME", Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1988, "LAWRENCE WEINER WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTIES TOWARDS THE END OF THE EIGHTIES", Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1985, "Sculpture", Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris / ARC, Paris 1983, "The Lawrence Weiner Poster Archive", Anna Leonowens Gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax 1983, "WORKS + RECONSTRUCTIONS", Kunsthalle Bern 1980, "Lawrence Weiner", Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva 1977, "THREE WORKS OF LAWRENCE WEINER PRESENTED FOR SALE &/OR INFORMATION AT LEO CASTELLI NYC", Leo Castelli Gallery, New York 1976, "FIVE WORKS, ONE BOOK, ONE VIDEOTAPE", Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1976, "A PROPOSITION + SOME QUESTIONS AS TO MOVED PICTURES", Artists Space, New York 1973, "WITH RELATION TO THE VARIOUS MANNERS WITH VARIOUS THINGS", Jack Wendler Gallery, London 1970, "Lawrence Weiner", Yvon Lambert, Paris 1969, "5 WORKS" Anna Leonowens Gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art Design, Halifax the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, Zurich, Switzerland (2015), and the Aspen Award for Art (2017). He posthumously won the Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize in Vienna (2022).

On the occasion of the Drawing Center's 2012 Spring Gala, where Weiner was being honored for his contributions to contemporary art, fellow artist Ed Ruscha and Mason Williams created a three-minute tribute in the form of a parody of Bob Dylan's legendary music video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with placards featuring Weiner text pieces like "stars don't stand still in the sky" and "water in milk exists."

Honors, prizes, awards, grants, and fellowships include Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Vienna (2022); Tokyo TDC (Type Directors Club) Annual Awards, Book Design Prize (2020); Bomb Magazine Anniversary Gala Hornoree (2020); Artist X Artist Hirshhorn Museum Gala Honoree (2019); SCAD deFINE ART Honoree, Savannah, Georgia (2019); Free Arts Honoree, New York (2018); Wolf Foundation Prize, Jerusalem (2017); Aspen Art Museum Award for Art (2017); The Kitchen Honoree, New York (2017); D.U.C. / Distribution to Underserved Communities Library Program) Honoree (2017); Roswitha Haftmann Prize, Kunsthaus Zurich (2015); Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, The Graduate Center City University of New York (2013); The Drawing Center Spring Gala Honoree, New York (2012); Bronx Museum of the Arts Honoree, New York City (2011); Skowhegan Medal for Painting/Conceptual (1999); Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Ludwig Museum, Köln (1995); John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1994); Arthur Köpcke Prize, Arthur Köpcke Memorial Fund, Copenhagen (1991); Singer Prize, Singer Museum, Laren, The Netherlands (1988); NEA Fellowship (1983); Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam & the State Film Board of the Netherlands (1982); NEA Fellowship (1976); 72nd American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago (1976); DAAD, Berlin (1975-1976)

Film & Video (Television) Weiner produced film and video works throughout his entire life. It is both a framework for his existing work to operate within and a work in its own right. Weiner distinguished between 'film' and 'video', but produced both in parallel; As Dieter Schwartz writes in SHOW (&) TELL: The Films & Videos of Lawrence Weiner, "The ease of production of the video allows for real time to be rapidly converted to edited, cinematic time, whereas film can only be viewed after a complicated processing stage, which automatically makes the recorded events more distant.". 1974, "DONE TO", 20 minutes 1997, "READING LIPS", 11 minutes

Video (Television)

1970, "TO THE SEA/ON THE SEA/FROM THE SEA/AT THE SEA/BORDERING THE SEA", 50 seconds 1970, "BEACHED", 2 minutes and 30 seconds lived on Bleecker Street for over thirty years before moving to another residence and studio in the West Village, in what was once an old laundromat built in 1910, transformed into a five-level town house designed by the firm LOT-EK in 2008.

Weiner died on December 2, 2021, in Manhattan, at the age of 79.

Suggested further reading HAVING BEEN SAID: Writings & Interviews of Lawrence Weiner Fietzek, Gerti and Stemmrich, Gregor. (eds.) Having Been Said: Writings & Interviews of Lawrence Weiner 1968–2003. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2004. Lawrence Weiner: Books 1968—1989 Schwarz, Dieter (ed.) Lawrence Weiner: Books 1968–1989. Köln / Villeurbanne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König / Le Nouveau Musée, 1989. SHOW (&) TELL: The Films and Video of Lawrence Weiner Marí, Bartomeu; Fuchs, R. H. (1992). Show (&) tell: the films and video of Lawrence Weiner a catalogue raisonné. Gent: Imschoot. . Lawrence Weiner Alberro, Alexander; Zimmerman, Alice; Buchloch, Benjamin H.D. and Batchelor, David. Lawrence Weiner. London: Phaidon Press, 1998. Lawrence Weiner: AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE De Salvo, Donna and Goldstein, Ann (eds.) Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007.