Etel Adnan

Praised by Hans Ulrich Obrist as "one of the most influential artists of the 21st century," Paris and California-based Etel Adnan (born 1925) has quietly worked in a variety of media, and across continents and languages, exploring themes of love and war. Her work is the opposite of cynicism," writes Obrist. "It is pure oxygen in a world full of wars."
Presenting the impressive diversity of Adnan’s work, The Weight of the World includes paintings, drawings, poetry, film, ceramics and tapestries. The catalogue’s title is taken from a new series of paintings completed for the show it accompanies at the Serpentine Gallery in London. It includes an essay by critic and writer Kaelen Wilson-Goldie that places Adnan’s art within the political and social context that has inspired it; a text by poet Robert Grenier; and writings by artist and publisher Simone Fattal on Adnan’s practice.

Poet, artist and essayist Etel Adnan describes various expressions of love--the love for ideas, for God, for things and for nature--addressing in particular how the lack of affection for nature in our culture leads to ecological catastrophe.