Guido van der Werve at Luhring Augustine, Monitor & GRIMM Galleries

One of Dutch artist Guido van der Werve’s best known performances involved walking just 16 yards in front of an ice breaking ship in the Baltic sea, an example of the physical punishment and risk he’s willing to endure for his art.  Now for a new on-line exhibition, Luhring Augustine Gallery, GRIMM Gallery and Monitor Gallery are teaming up to present still photographs from the artist’s mind-bending 2012 performance ‘Nummer Veertien, home,’ for which he swam, biked and ran 1,200 miles across Europe.  Van der Werve’s journey began at the location of Chopin’s interred heart (Warsaw) and ended at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris where the rest of the composer’s body is buried.  In Paris, the artist delivered a small container of soil from outside Chopin’s childhood home, connecting the two places and creating a profound link between his own history and that of his favorite composer.  (On view through June 19th).

Guido Van Der Werve, Nummer acht, Everything is going to be alright, 16mm to HD, 10 minutes, 10 seconds, 2007.

Guido van der Werve in ‘Lone Tree’ at Marlborough Gallery

Guido van der Werve’s 2007 video ‘Nummer acht’ is a standout in Marlborough Gallery’s excellent ‘Lone Tree,’ a show dedicated to artists inspired by 19th century painter of the sublime landscape, Caspar David Friedrich. The Dutch artist walked about 10 meters in front of a towering ice-breaker off the frozen coast of Finland, suggesting bravery and folly in equal measure in one lone individual. (In Chelsea through May 3rd.)

Guido Van Der Werve, Nummer acht, Everything is going to be alright, 16mm to HD, 10 minutes, 10 seconds, 2007.