4th Berlin Biennale, 25.3.–5.6.2006; Dieter Roth, Helvetia, 1972; Dorothy Iannone, Aua Aua Box, 1972, 2005; courtesy Dorothy Iannone; from left to right, installation view Gagosian Gallery; photo: Rainer Jordan
27.9.–22.10.2005
The exhibition was an unsystematic chronicle of the friendship that had tied together three extraordinary artists and fascinating characters. Berlin Beauties told a story of love, respect and life-long artistic dialogues, presenting paintings, sculptures, videos, drawings, and ephemera that the three artists had produced and exchanged in more than 30 years of companionship.
With fluxus generosity, beatnik eroticism and cacophonous, dark joy, Iannone, Roth and Williams had – together and individually – impacted nearly five decades of art history. Their friendship was arguably one of the most fascinating and yet obscure true tales of twentieth-century art.
The title, Berlin Beauties, comes from Dorothy Iannone‘s illustrated book of the same title, published in 1978 in Zurich.
