Installation View, Chiesa delle Penitenti Fondamenta Cannaregio, 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2019
Born in 1950 in Metzingen, Germany, Wolfgang Laib originally studied medicine. Disillusioned with Western medicine, he came to view the natural sciences, as well as most other modern thinking, as limited for their dependency on logic and the material world. His search led him to Eastern spiritualism, philosophy and pre-Renaissance thought. Since 1975, Laib has worked exclusively as an artist and has built an international reputation. In 2000, the American Federation of the Arts organized a retrospective, which traveled to the Hirshhorn Museum; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Dallas Museum of Art; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2000-03). Subsequent solo museum exhibitions include the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou (2004); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2005-06); MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City (2009); The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (2009-10); and MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2010). In 2013, Laib’s Pollen from Hazelnut was on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Laib Wax Room opened at The Phillips Collection in March of the same year. A major solo exhibition of his work was presented at MASI Lugano in Switzerland in 2017-18. Museo Novecento organized an exhibition at four important sites throughout Florence, including the Museo del Convento di San Marco, the Cappella dei Magi at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the Cappella Rucellai at the Museo Marino Marini, and the Cappella Pazzi, Complesso Monumentale di Santa Croce (2019-20). Other recent solo exhibitions include “Wolfgang Laib: Crossing the River” at Bündner Kunstmuseum, Switzerland (2022); “Wolfgang Laib: The Beginning of Something Else” at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2023); and “Wolfgang Laib: Passageway” at Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese (2023-24); and “Wolfgang Laib. A Mountain not to climb on. For Monet” at Musée de l’Orangerie (2024). Laib was awarded the Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture in 2015. His work is in public and private collections worldwide, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; CAPC (Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux); Kunstmuseum Bonn; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki. Laib had his first solo show at Sperone Westwater in 1979 and subsequent exhibitions in 1981, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2013 and 2018. He lives and works between Hochdorf, Germany, New York, and Ammayanayakkanur, India.
Wolfgang Laib
Tower of Silence, 2024
beeswax
86 5/8 x 27 1/2 x 24 3/8 inches (220 x 69,9 x 61,9 cm)
SW 25024
Wolfgang Laib
Towers of Silence, 2025
pencil and oil pastel on Arches paper
22 1/4 x 30 1/8 inches (56,5 x 76,5 cm)
23 3/8 x 33 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches (59,4 x 84,5 x 4,1 cm) frame
SW 25090
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2007
pencil and oil pastel on paper
20 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (52 x 42 cm)
27 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches (69,5 x 51,1 cm) frame
SW 13041
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2023
beeswax
23 5/8 x 17 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches (60 x 44,1 x 14 cm)
SW 25128
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2023
beeswax
29 1/2 x 15 x 7 1/2 inches (74,9 x 38,1 x 19 cm)
SW 25127
Wolfgang Laib
Tower of Silence, 2025
pencil and oil pastel on Burmese paper
26 x 34 inches (66 x 86,4 cm)
29 1/4 x 37 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches (74,3 x 94,6 x 3,8 cm) frame
SW 25094
Installation View, Diriyah Biennale: Feeling the Stones
JAX district, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, 2021
Wolfgang Laib
From the Known to the Unkown - To Where is Your Oracle Leading You?, 2011-2014
underground beeswax space
192 x 1,800 x 72 feet
Studio Anselm Kiefer, La Ribaute, Barjac, France
Wolfgang Laib
Tower of Silence, 2024
beeswax
86 5/8 x 27 1/2 x 24 3/8 inches (220 x 69,9 x 61,9 cm)
SW 25024
Wolfgang Laib
Towers of Silence, 2025
pencil and oil pastel on Arches paper
22 1/4 x 30 1/8 inches (56,5 x 76,5 cm)
23 3/8 x 33 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches (59,4 x 84,5 x 4,1 cm) frame
SW 25090
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2007
pencil and oil pastel on paper
20 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (52 x 42 cm)
27 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches (69,5 x 51,1 cm) frame
SW 13041
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2023
beeswax
23 5/8 x 17 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches (60 x 44,1 x 14 cm)
SW 25128
Wolfgang Laib
Untitled, 2023
beeswax
29 1/2 x 15 x 7 1/2 inches (74,9 x 38,1 x 19 cm)
SW 25127
Wolfgang Laib
Tower of Silence, 2025
pencil and oil pastel on Burmese paper
26 x 34 inches (66 x 86,4 cm)
29 1/4 x 37 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches (74,3 x 94,6 x 3,8 cm) frame
SW 25094
Installation View, Diriyah Biennale: Feeling the Stones
JAX district, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, 2021
Wolfgang Laib
From the Known to the Unkown - To Where is Your Oracle Leading You?, 2011-2014
underground beeswax space
192 x 1,800 x 72 feet
Studio Anselm Kiefer, La Ribaute, Barjac, France
A trailer for the exhibition "Wolfgang Laib: The Beginning of Something Else," 17 June – 5 November 2023, at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart