Adrian Ghenie: Darwin’s Room

At this year’s Venice Biennale, the Romanian Pavilion in the Giardini showcases Darwin’s Room, an exhibition of paintings by Adrian Ghenie. The title refers not only to a recent series of superb portraits of (and self-portraits as) the great British naturalist, but also to Ghenie’s exploration of twentieth-century history as an evolutionary laboratory, with the seminal ideologies as species fighting for survival-a fascinating interweaving of past and future histories. In just a few years, Ghenie has developed a unique artistic language, combining a spontaneous, sensual, multilayered joie de peindre with a keen reflection on how the contemporary is shaped by memory and desire. This handsome book assembles all paintings presented in Venice and a wealth of essays and interviews that underline Ghenie’s standing as one of the most significant painters of his generation.