Martin Puryear represents the United States at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Puryear is recognized for a fiercely independent visual language of object making that has developed over a half-century, and for a sculptural practice that has influenced generations of artists. Biennale Arte 2019 marks a major international presentation for the artist, whose work has remained at the forefront of American creativity.

The 2019 U.S. Pavilion is commissioned and curated by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Deputy Director and Martin Friedman Senior Curator of Madison Square Park Conservancy. The exhibition marks the first time in the history of the Art Biennale that the U.S. Pavilion will be organized by an institution whose visual art program is focused exclusively on public art. The Conservancy and Puryear collaborated on the commission of his monumental sculpture Big Bling in 2016-2017.

Puryear creates an entirely new body of work for the U.S. Pavilion, including new sculpture and a site-specific outdoor installation for the Pavilion’s forecourt. Puryear’s work summons disparate sources of inspiration to realize a coherent vision that culls and clarifies across cultures, continents, eras, and perspectives.

In conjunction with the presentation at the U.S. Pavilion, there will be outreach programs with underserved youth through a collaboration between Studio Institute of Studio in a School Association, Inc. in New York and Istituto Santa Maria Della Pietà in Venice. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects are exhibition designers. Dr. Darby English is exhibition scholar. Miko McGinty is graphic designer. A full-color illustrated catalogue, published by Gregory M. Miller & Co., with essays by English, Tobi Haslett, Rapaport and Anne M. Wagner accompanies the exhibition. 

Additional information is available at martinpuryearvenice2019.net.