Reverse Alchemy: Dubuffet, Basquiat, Nava / Pace Berlin

Pace’s inaugural exhibition at its new Berlin Schöneberg space, Reverse Alchemy: Dubuffet, Basquiat, Nava, opened May 2, 2025, coinciding with Gallery Weekend Berlin. Curated by Oliver Shultz, it features works on paper by Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Nava, exploring their disruption of figuration through raw, expressive mark-making. Anchored in Dubuffet’s art brut, the show examines a “reverse alchemy” that strips “high art” to its unrefined essence, collapsing abstraction and figuration. Dubuffet’s late 1970s–80s works, including Théâtres de mémoire, are juxtaposed with Basquiat’s contemporaneous drawings and Nava’s recent pieces, highlighting their shared rejection of traditional beauty. Basquiat, influenced by Dubuffet, and Nava, with his mythic, gestural figures, extend this legacy of anti-figuration. Housed in Die Tankstelle, a converted 1950s gas station shared with Galerie Judin, the exhibition marks Pace’s 65th anniversary and its deepened European presence, following a 2023 Berlin office opening. A concurrent Tom of Finland show at Galerie Judin complements this exploration of high-low art boundaries. The exhibition runs until June 14, 2025. Reverse Alchemy: Dubuffet, Basquiat, Nava / Pace Berlin. Berlin (Germany), May 4, 2025. Join our channel for early access and exclusive videos: https://www.youtube.com/vernissagetv/... More videos on contemporary art, design, architecture: http://vernissage.tv Connect:   / vernissagetv     / vernissagetv     / vernissagetv   Browse our Archive: http://vernissage.tv/archive/posts/ Find Artists, Designers, Architects: http://vernissage.tv/archive/artists/ Art TV pioneer Vernissage TV provides you with an authentic insight into the world of contemporary fine arts, design and architecture. With its two main series "No Comment" and "Interviews", art tv channel VernissageTV attends opening receptions of exhibitions worldwide, interviews artists, designers, architects. VTV provides art lovers with news, reports and features from the international art scene. VernissageTV: the window to the art world. Das Fenster zur Kunstwelt. La fenêtre sur le monde de l'art. A janela para o mundo da arte. La ventana al mundo del arte. نافذة على عالم الفن. 到艺术世界的窗口。Окно в мир искусства. Since 2005.