Dawn Adès

Eroticism, science and humor collide in the work of these two close friends

Dalí/Duchamp takes a detailed look at the little-explored relationship between two of the 20th century’s most famous artists. The two might seem like polar opposites at first glance―Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), the father of conceptual art who rejected painting in 1918, appears to have little in common with the showmanlike Salvador Dalí (1904–89), the exceptional Surrealist painter of fantastical landscapes. But the two men were united by a unique combination of humor and skepticism that led both to challenge conventional views of art and life in their own respective ways.

Beyond their shared thematic concerns, the artists knew and respected each other. After meeting in the 1930s through mutual contacts within the Surrealist group, Duchamp and Dalí maintained a firm friendship over the following decades, spending time together in Paris, New York and Catalonia, where Duchamp purchased a summer house in Cadaqués, close to Dalí’s home in Port Lligat.

Throughout this volume, expert contributors explore themes common to both artists, chief among them eroticism and identity, and both men’s engagement with science, optics, religion and myth. Each section of the book is sumptuously illustrated with key pieces from both artists’ bodies of work and features previously unpublished photographs, letters and ephemera that testify to the enduring warmth of their friendship. Dalí/Duchamp offers a fresh understanding of the work of two seminal artists of the 20th century.… (meer)

I have used the car not only as a sexual image, but as a total metaphor for man’s life in today’s
society.
--JG Ballard
Gagosian Gallery London will present “Crash,” a major group exhibition opening on 11 February
2010, which takes its title from the famous novel by JG Ballard.
Ballard’s novels stand among the most visionary, provocative literature of the twentieth
century, with his ominous predictions regarding the fate of Western culture and his insights into
the dark psychopathology of the human race. This exhibition is a response to the enormous
impact and enduring cultural significance of his work, following his death in spring 2009.
Highlighting Ballard’s great passion for the surreal and his engagement with the artists of his
own generation, “Crash” includes examples of his specific inspirations as well as works by
contemporary artists who have, in turn, been inspired by his vision.
Ballard’s first published short story “Prima Belladonna” appeared in 1956, the same year as the
celebrated Independent Group’s exhibition “This is Tomorrow” at the Whitechapel Gallery, which
marked the birth of Pop Art in Britain. It was here, and in the work of Surrealists such as
Salvador Dali and Paul Delvaux, that Ballard found the seeds of what he called a “fiction for the
present day”. With its dystopian depictions of the present and future, its bleak, man-made
landscapes and the recounting of the psychological effects of technological, social and
environmental developments on humans, his work has resonated strongly among other writers,
filmmakers and visual artists. The exhibition “Crash” brings together works by artists tuned to
the Ballardian universe, from his contemporaries such as Ed Ruscha, Richard Hamilton, Andy
Warhol and Helmut Newton, to younger artists such as Tacita Dean, Jenny Saville, Glenn Brown
and Mike Nelson.
The exhibition is organised in association with the Estate of JG Ballard.… (meer)