Wolfgang Laib

Wolfgang Laib (Metzingen, 25 marzo 1950) è un artista tedesco.

Laib è nato in una famiglia di medici di Biberach. Anch'egli ha studiato, negli anni settanta, medicina a Tubinga. Ma, ben presto, dimostra interesse per l'arte. Sotto l'influenza del suo mentore, il pittore di paesaggi Jakob Bräckle, si interessa alla cultura e alla filosofia dell'Estremo Oriente.

Il lavoro di Laib fa propri alcuni elementi della Land Art, pur essendo presente anche l'influenza della Minimal Art. Una delle caratteristiche del suo lavoro è l'utilizzo di materiali naturali, come la cera d'api, il polline, il riso. Le sue opere più note sono le Milchsteine (pietre di latte): grandi blocchi concavi di marmo bianco riempiti di latte.

Una prima retrospettiva della sua opera ha girato, tra il 2000 e il 2002, negli USA, facendo tappa, tra gli altri, al Hirshhorn Museum al Washington Museum, e, più tardi, in Europa, alla Haus der Kunst di Monaco di Baviera.

Mostre personali

• 1976 Gallery Müller-Roth, Stuttgart

• 1978 Gallery Salvatore Ala, Milan

Gallery Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Kunstraum München

Gallery Rolf Preisig, Basel

• 1979 Gallery Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York

Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven

Gallery Jean & Karen Bernier, Athens

• 1980 Ink, Zürich (together with Marden, Merz, Zorio)

• 1981 Gallery Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York

Gallery Max Hetzler, Stuttgart

Gallery Chantal Crousel, Paris

Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven

• 1982 Gewad, Gent

Gallery Konrad Fischer, Zürich

Biennale, Venice, German pavilion (together with Darboven and Graubner)

• 1983 Museum Mönchengladbach

Gallery Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

• 1984 Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven

• 1985 Gallery Maeght Lelong, New York (together with Ryman and Wilson)

Kunstverein St. Gallen

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

• 1986 ARC, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris

Gallery Maeght Lelong, New York

Gallery Crousel/Hussenot, Paris

Capc, Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux

• 1987 Gallery Buchmann, Basel

• 1988 Gallery Lelong, New York

Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines

Gallery Burnett Miller, Los Angeles

• 1989 Musée de Rochechouart

Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (together with Merz and Walther)

Gallery Buchmann, Basel

Gallery Crousel/Robelin, Paris

Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart

• 1990 Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven

Gallery Buchmann, Basel

Galerie des Beaux - Arts, Brussels

Kunstmuseum Luzern

Gallery Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Gallery Burnett Miller, Los Angeles

Gallery Rhona Hoffmann, Chicago

Watari-um, Tokyo Lightseed (together with Cy Twombly Michel Verjux)

• 1991 Gallery Sperone Westwater, New York

Gallery Senda, Hiroshima

Gallery Buchmann, Basel

Gallery Karansha, Tokyo

Gallery Crousel/Robelin, Paris

Center of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe

• 1992 Centre Pompidou, Paris

Gallery Artiaco, Naples

Museo Comunale, Ascona

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

Kunstmuseum Bonn

Capc, Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux

Moca, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

• 1993 Gallery Sperone Wetswater, New York

De Pont Fondation, Tilburg

Gallery Buchmann, Basel

• 1994 The Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, Halifax

Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst

Gallery Ropac, Salzburg

Camden Arts Centre, London

• 1995 Installation Museum Sprengel, Hannover

Gallery Sperone Westwater, New York

• 1996 Gallery Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Diözesanmuseum, Cologne

Gallery Ropac, Salzburg

Gallery Artek, Helsinki

Gallery Chantal Crousel, Paris

Gallery Kenji Taki, Nagoya

• 1997 Gallery Kenji Taki, Nagoya

Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

• 1998 The Arts Club of Chicago

Gallery Sperone Westwater, New York

Gallery Kenji Taki, Nagoya and Tokyo

Gallery Artiaco, Naples

• 1999 Carrée d’Art, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes

Gallery 1000 Eventi, Milan

Kunsthaus Bregenz

• 2000 Gallery Buchmann, Cologne

Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere

Gallery Anthony Meier, San Francisco

University Art Museum, Berkeley

Hirshhorn Museum, Washington

• 2001 Henry Art Gallery,Seattle

Gallery Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas

Sprengel Museum, Hannover

Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona

• 2002 Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, San Diego

Gallery Chantal Crousel, Paris

Folkwang Museum, Essen

The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

Haus der Kunst, Munich

Gallery Leslie Tonkonow, New York

• 2003 Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota City

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Gallery Kenji Taki, Tokyo

Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art,

Marugame, Japan

National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul

Gallery Caratsch, de Pury &Luxembourg, Zurich

• 2004 Gallery Buchmann, Cologne

Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot/Ulm

Gallery Rizziero Arte, Pescara

University of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam

• 2005 Kunstmuseum Bonn

Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth

De Pont Museum, Tilburg

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Museum of Contemporary Art, MACRO, Rome

Fondation Beyeler, Basel

Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand

• 2006 Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lasalle-SIA, Singapore

Gallery Lelong, Paris

Collegamenti esterni

• (DE) kunstaspekte.de
• (EN) Rétrospective 2002-03 (con illustrazioni e un testo critico)
• (DE) Texte sur l'exposition à la Villa Rot 2004 (con una breve biografia di Laib)