‘Ursula von Rydingsvard's open-air show is a dazzling public artwork whose impact will remain long after the Biennale.’

- Art in America

In 2015 YSP presented a major open-air exhibition of six sculptures by Ursula von Rydingsvard as an official Collateral Event at the prestigious 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia.

Based in New York, this was von Rydingsvard’s first exhibition in Italy extending the life and reach of the artist’s 2014 exhibition at YSP – at the time her most extensive project to date – which included more than 40 works of drawing and sculpture in the Underground Gallery and open air.

One of America’s most inventive and individual artists, with work in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, von Rydingsvard has evolved a distinctive sculptural language that has cedar wood at its heart and is driven by a passion for form and surface.

The artist has made site specific public commissions and works for the open air since the 1970s and this exhibition extended her deeply felt interest in landscape and seeing her work placed in different contexts within the public realm. In the Giardino della Marinaressa, these six sculptures reflected the range of von Rydingsvard’s work across different materials and were sited to integrate with the distinctive canopy of pine and poplar trees, the surrounding architecture, and the sea beyond.

The exhibition was developed in association with the Municipalità di Venezia Murano Burano, coordinated in Venice by Ambiente e Arte, and supported by the American and European Friends of Ursula von Rydingsvard, Luciano Giubbilei, Galerie Lelong and an anonymous donor.

Works in the exhibition
Anastazia, 2013–14, cedar and graphite, courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong
Bronze Bowl with Lace, 2013–14, bronze, courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong
Elegantka II, 2013–14, urethane resin, courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong
For Martin F., 2013, cedar and graphite, courtesy the collection of Sherry and Joel Mallin, New York
Heart in Hand, 2014, bronze, courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong
Scratch, 2013–14, cedar and graphite, courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong

Download the press release in English