Massimo De Carlo is pleased to present three solo presentations by Andra Ursuţa, Maria Lai, and Carl Andre. Spanning several generations and countries, the exhibition explores three unique and idiosyncratic voices in various trajectories of art history, with each artist displaying a distinct approach to their practice, unified by a level of intensity towards the subject matter chosen.

Massimo De Carlo presents, for the first time in London, a selection of essential works on paper from the earlier period of Carl Andre’s extensive and wide-ranging career. Regarded as a pioneer of the Minimalist movement, Andre is recognised for changing and creating a new language of sculpture by his contemporaries. The works on paper (or poems) were executed in the late 1950s, with the exhibited works dating from 1958 to 1963, at a time when Andre lived in New York and shared a studio with Frank Stella. Each poem, typed on a manual typewriter, reflect many of the aesthetical and conceptual ideas of the wider minimalist movement by rebelling against the dominance of structured language and focusing on "objecthood”.

The artist utilises every typed letter, each achieving a multitude of forms; as a part of a poem, or a cell of a sculpture, kept in formation by the boundaries of the A4 page. The works touch on a variety of occurrences and experiences of the artist, some inspiring scenes of colour, others echoing sounds and vocal intonations. The works have a graphic identity: evoking blocks, scatter pieces, columns, zigzags, while others have a distinct literary reference: the sonnet, the opera, or even historical or autobiographical subjects. Thinking through the materiality of words, in relation to the form of language and matter, Andre works within a historical development, by actively disrupting and decoding assumed truths, and proposed an alternative perspective on viewing present conditions. Andre’s work has been shown in solo exhibition in prestigious institutions around the world such as, amongst the most recent: the itinerant show Sculpture as Place, 1958–2010, MOCA - The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2017), Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, F (2016); Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, D (2016); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, E (2015); Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, NY (2014).

The renowned American Minimal sculptor and poet Carl Andre was born in 1935 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He lives and works in New York, USA. Andre’s work has been shown in solo exhibition in prestigious institutions around the world such as, amongst the most recent: the itinerant show Sculpture as Place, 1958–2010, MOCA - The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles (2017), Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2016); Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2016); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2015); Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, NY (2014); A Friendship: Carl Andreʼs Works on Paper from the LeWitt Collection, The Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton, NY (2014). Carl Andre’s work is hosted in prominent public collections such as the Tate Modern in London, Centre George Pompidou in Paris, Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the MoMA in New York.