Residence November 2021
ROBERT VIOLETTE
Description
In November 2021, publisher and artist Robert Violette spent several weeks at Masseria Pernice. I chose this figure because for many years he has managed to converse superbly with a wide range of clients, and I thought he could work softly, with the de La Tour family, which has the same strengths to offer. Her extraordinary and almost invisible skills make Violette the perfect interlocutor for executive producer and fellow artist, Paolo Sallier de La Tour.
The residency is a conversation between figures who see themselves as creators and also stewards. Between people who have a moral responsibility to tell the truth and do the right thing. Between actors on a stage that is life, always aware of responsibilities, not only to a place, but to people, and other living things. The commissions and professional challenges Robert Violette has faced in his long and illustrious career range from rebranding emeralds to creating a legacy for early career artists like Jeff Koons. His ability to identify talent and frame it in unusual and compelling ways makes him more than an editor. He is a storyteller, a storyteller, capable of riffing between images and sounds, between long texts and poetic explosions, between communicative bursts and colophon pages, with absolute ease. Indeed, Violette’s talent far exceeds the medium of the book, and it is his curiosity about music and art making that leads him to explore these as well and learn about the process from the inside out.
For these residencies, I select professionals I admire, people I think are the best at what they do, and people who find rest and inspiration in not doing and also, of course, in exploring the possibilities of materials, study, freedom and time.
This is Violette’s contribution to Masseria Pernice, and to the highly creative and artistic people who guide and manage this historic structure. In the great tradition of activism and embedded art, her residency has once again produced creation, through art, poetry, philosophy, music and a sense of place.
-Dr. Cornelia Lauf, Curator, Pernice Residence Project
Biography
Robert Violette is an Artist, publisher and producer based in London. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Robert was educated in both the States and England. He will bring his knowledge of both cultures to Pernice, Sicily, as Resident Artist in Spring 2020. Defining publication criteria for modern gallery programs, from 1988 to 1995 Robert edited and produced publications at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery in London for multiple prominent Artists, including Gilbert & George, Ellsworth Kelly, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Long, and Gerhard Richter. In 1991, Robert produced and co-edited Jeff Koons’ first publication, “The Jeff Koons Handbook,” and, in 1995 , Bill Viola’s collection of writings, “Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House,” still in print today. In 1995, he founded Violette Editions, his own publishing house, where he created several noteworthy publications, including Damien Hirst’s first book, “I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now,” as well as Gilbert and George’s “The Words,” Leigh Bowery, Sophie Calle : “Double Game” , Louise Bourgeois : “Destruction of the Father/Reconstruction of the Father, Paul Smith: “You Can Find Inspiration in Anything and Annette Message: “Word for Word. His most recent publications include Tom Dixon: “Dixonary,” Micheal Clark and Sarah Jones. Outside of Violette Editions, Robert has produced and edited “Lucian Freud Drawings” (Prestel) and “Hussein Chalayan” (Rizzoli), he has also established a solid reputation advising clients on pivotal publications for various fashion brands such as Kvadrat, Swarovski, Tate, Lisson Gallery and the legendary “Hotel the Pelican.” With his monographs “Emerald” and “Ruby” (and in 2021, “Sapphire”); he radically transformed the concept of books on gems and jewelry. Robert’s skills as an editor include a strong ability to recognize talent after decades in the avant-garde, as well as a keen ear for trends in multiple fields. Gifted with great versatility, he expresses his inner harmonies in a variety of ways, including Visual Art, which he approaches through publishing projects. He has a special interest in music and Performing Art. In 2005, he was himself a finalist for the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theater Trust Award and, since 2014, has also worked as a financial consultant for London’s Block Universe performance art festival. The Pernice Artist Residency will host Robert in the context of its pastoral and agricultural traditions. Robert and the host, artist Paolo Sallier de La Tour, will exchange ideas and insights, in the poetic setting of the Sicilian countryside, in the hallowed Renaissance symbiosis between artistic and intellectual consultancy and the culture of the land.
