Gagosian presents bronze works by Giuseppe Penone in New York

Gagosian will open The Reflection of Bronze on April 22 at 555 West 24th Street in New York, presenting new sculptures by Giuseppe Pennone. The exhibition presents two works and marks the artist’s first collaboration with the city gallery. Adam D. Weinbergits director emeritus Whitney Museum of American Artsupervises the project. Pennone builds this presentation from his early tree research, developed in the late 1960s, when he examined growth structures and produced carvings that revealed earlier stages within the trunk. Today’s sculptures translate this research into bronze.

ART

Penone’s practice develops through direct engagement with materials and their physical transformations. As its leading personality Bad Arthe has worked with many materials while maintaining a constant focus on the relationship between human presence and natural processes. In this exhibition, bronze captures duration and change through form. Weinberg describes Penone’s use of bronze as part of an ongoing investigation into artistic issues, where the material carries historical weight while remaining open to reinterpretation. Bronze once served industrial and military functions and later returned to artistic production through approaches such as Penone’s. The sculptures are also linked to an early observation in his work: removing the rings around the knots in a wooden beam reveals the structure of a younger tree embedded within.

The exhibition unfolds in three rooms, each of which is defined by a distinct material environment. The first room has walls covered with cork, which comes from oak bark. This installation creates a continuous surface that surrounds bronze elements. At the center is Marsia (Marsyas) (2024), a play based on the Greek myth of Marsyas. The sculpture consists of two linked bronze branches, one holding the bark and the other stripped. This pairing refers to the figure of Marsyas and the act of flaying described in the myth, turning the narrative into material form.

The second room presents works that extend Penone’s research into tree structures and chronology. Four sculptures entitled Clepsydra (Water Clock), dated 2012 and 2024, consist of bronze casts from carved tree trunks. These works introduce a new use of bronze in his practice for this type of form. Nearby, Un anno di bronzo – Larice (A Year of Bronze – Larch) (2024) combines a bronze surface of bark with a living plant placed within the structure. The room also includes an early woodcut and Trattenere 6, 8, 12, 16, 20 anni di crescita (Continuerà a crescere tranne che in quel punto) (2004–24). This work features five bronze trunks produced at different intervals, each marked in the center by a cast of the artist’s hand. The gesture refers to actions carried out by Pennone in the forests of Piedmont in 1968.

The final room focuses on Riflesso del bronzo (The Reflection of Bronze) (2005), a sequence of bronze panels arranged in a linear progression. The first panel appears polished and reflective. Each subsequent panel is derived from the previous one through casting, incorporating visible traces of the process. This progression introduces variation through repetition. Pennone describes bronze as a material that imitates while having value and history. The installation also includes an Egyptian bronze mirror dating to around 1539–1478 BC, on loan from the Brooklyn Museum in New York, expanding the exhibition’s focus on reflection and continuity over time.

An illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition, featuring an essay by Adam D. Weinberg along with a conversation between Weinberg and Penone.

JOSEPH PENONE
The Reflection of Bronze
Edited by Adam D. Weinberg
Opening: Wednesday, April 22, 6–8 p.m
April 22 – July 2, 2026
555 West 24th Street, New York