Wall & Floor at Galerie Almine Rech: Minimalism Across Generations

From January 9 to March 6, 2010, Galerie Almine Rech in Paris presented "Wall & Floor," a group exhibition celebrating minimalism by juxtaposing works from multiple generations of artists since the 1960s. The show included invited artists such as Nate Lowman, Frank Stella, and Donald Judd, the latter featuring a rare 1971 painting on paper. The exhibition occupied the entire gallery space with a formalist hang, avoiding thematic sections in favor of subtle dialogues between works. At the entrance, Carl Andre's "Fe 2 Cu Fe" (2002)—smooth metal plates on the floor—was paired with Aaron Young's "The Sinners Club" on the wall, larger and more distressed metal plates. Explicit homages included Nate Lowman's "Broken Zip" referencing Barnett Newman, and Andrei Molodkin's "After Malevitch" using Russian oil in plexiglas boxes. Color echoes linked Sol LeWitt's gouache "Horizontal Lines" (2005) to Dan Graham's photographs of housing projects in Brescia, Italy, and California. Chris Burden's "Gold Bullets (pointies and roundies)" (2003) sat near Lowman's "Untitled (Bullet Hole)" (2009). Upstairs, Tom Burr's bronze vanity "Vanity" (2008) with a round mirror, James Turrell's "Image Stone: Moon Side" (1999) and "Crater's Eye" (2004)—the latter tied to his Roden Crater project in Arizona—were shown. The exhibition was described as generous and jubilant, offering reassurance through historical references amid crisis.