George Widener at Lafayette Anticipations
Between predictions, oracles, anticipation systems, upheavals, and capitulations, Coming Soon blends contemporary and historical works.
Inspired by the statement of artist Barbara Kruger, “the future belongs to those who can see it,” the exhibition explores what our conception of the future reveals about our present; how hopes, pessimism, desires, and anxieties manifest in it; and how different ways of being are narrated.
On the occasion of this exhibition, which brings together 32 artists, the gallery has loaned a work by George Widener, exhibited alongside Neil Beloufa, Leonora Carrington, Mimosa Echard, Philippe Parreno, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Exhibition view Coming Soon. While waiting for tomorrow, Lafayette Anticipations, Fondation Galeries Lafayette, Paris (28 February – 12 May 2023).
George Widener, Time Machine, 2011. Collection Emmanuelle and Guy Delcourt.
Ink and marker on paper, 162,3 x 58 cm.
© Aurélien Mole, Lafayette Anticipations
A former U.S. Air Force technician, chronically depressed and antisocial, it is only when he reached his thirties that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. His syndrome is characterized by an eidetic memory that allows him to insert in his works a lot of data, especially encrypted, relating to his favorite subjects. Time, magic squares, the Titanic, and fictional megalopolises are among the recurring themes of his drawings. Present, among others, in the collections of the Smithsonian (Washington), his art has been shown at the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris, in the cult exhibition Le Bord des Mondes or in Alternative Guide to the Universe at the Hayward Gallery in London. In 2024, it will be exhibited at Lafayette Anticipations (Paris).