The Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts, VAEA is proud to announce the recipient of the Páez Medal of Art 2013 will be artist Robert Wilson. Wilson has left an indelible mark as a change agent in experimental theater; his work addresses the traditional paradigms and combines the roles of Director, writer, actor, painter, choreographer and designer. This comprehensive artist has developed his own symbolic language in the use of text and images, light and sound, generating a style that goes beyond the conventions of theater and opera.
The creator of celebrated works such as Einstein on the Beach, The CIVIL warS, KA MOUNTain and GUARDenia Terrace in Shiraz, Iran (1972), and Director of productions such as Pelléas et Mélisande, Death Destruction & Detroit and more recently The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic (Manchester, 2011) a collaboration with Antony; and Peter Pan (Berlin, 2013) a collaboration with CocoRosie, Wilson was described by The New York Times as “a towering figure in the world of experimental theater and an explorer in the uses of time and space on stage. Transcending theatrical convention, he draws in other performance and graphic arts, which coalesce into an integrated tapestry of images and sounds.”
Wilson’s integral practice has been firmly rooted in the fine arts; his drawings, designs and installations have been exhibited around the world, with major retrospectives at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Of Wilson’s artistic career, Susan Sontag has added, “it has the signature of a major artistic creation. I can’t think of any body of work as large or as influential.” Besides Wilson outstanding contributions as an artist, since the early 1990s, Robert Wilson has contributed to the formation of future generations by doing workshops for students and creative professionals from around the world at the International Summer Arts Program at The Watermill Center in Eastern Long Island – an interdisciplinary laboratory for the Arts and Humanities.
Robert Wilson’s constant pursuit of excellence and experimentation has made him an inspiration and role model for artists around the world. It is with great honor that VAEA celebrates Robert Wilson and recognizes him with its highest award, the Páez Medal of Art. The ceremony will take place during VAEA’s Annual Benefit Gala on November 15th 2013 in New York City.
The Páez Medal of Art is awarded once a year to an individual or group that has had an impact and contributed to the excellence, growth, support and proliferation of the arts in Venezuela and the United States. Robert Wilson will be the first North American recipient of the medal; the 2012 honoree was Venezuelan visual artist Carlos Cruz-Diez.
The Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA), was founded on June 13, 1990 in New York to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth in Acarigua, Venezuela of José Antonio Páez. Our mission is to strengthen the ties of friendship between the United States of America and Venezuela through binational cultural and social programs.
For more information please visit our website: www.vaearts.org
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Press:
Maria José Morr, Public Relations mjmorr@vaearts.org
Valeria Cordero, Executive Director valeriacordero@vaearts.org
Photo: Robert Wilson © 2011 Lucie Jansch