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Art & Photography / / In Pictures

Richard Artschwager!— November 7, 2012 —

In 1960, whi ls t working as a furni ture maker in New York, RichardAr tschwager received a commission from the Cathol ic Church

request ing him to bui ld a selec t ion of por table al tars for use onships. . .

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Text Allie Biswas

Richard Artschwager, Description of Table, 1964 © Richard Artschwager

In 1960, whilst working as a furniture maker in New York, RichardArtschwager received a commission from the Catholic Church requesting himto build a selection of portable altars for use on ships. Although having madepaintings and drawings since the late 1950s, it was this unusual request thatcompelled the Washington-born artist to start experimenting with wood andacrylic paint to create small, wall-based objects. These works would eventuallylead to more substantial geometrical sculptures referencing everyday householdobjects and that accentuated an artificial quality, often using odd, fabricatedmaterials such as Celotex (ceiling insulation boards) and rubberized horsehair.

In Description of Table (1964), the illusion of a crisp, cotton tablecloth ispresented using the synthetic nature of melamine laminate. Where a mirrorshould be in the dressing table composition Portrait II (1963), a square of canaryyellow Formica stands instead. Furniture-like in form, Artschwager’scheerfully-coloured yet eerily blank works became the artist’s way of exploringhis interest in mixing two- and three-dimensional perceptual experiences,surprising the viewer, making them look again. These works, the artist has said,were meant to be experienced both as the image of an object and as the objectitself.

"Artschwager’s cheerfully-coloured yet eerily blank worksbecame the artist’s way of exploring his interest in mixingtwo- and three-dimensional perceptual experiences..."

Works spanning a period of fifty years are currently on show at thisoctogenarian's retrospective at the Whitney Museum – home, also, to theartist’s first, and last, career survey back in 1988. This leading museum ofAmerican art is a fitting backdrop for Artschwager, given his prominence as anAmerican artist from the middle of the century onwards; yet he has always beenconsidered an outsider, with a significantly quieter profile compared tocontemporaries such as Warhol and Lichtenstein. Perhaps Artschwagernaturally stood apart, due to his outstanding intellect (studies in Maths,Chemistry and Biology at Cornell; fluent in three languages; plays Beethhovenfrom memory) and some outstanding experiences (three trips to Europe on anocean liner before the age of ten, teen-hood in New Mexico, serving in thesecond world war).

Though often misconstrued, the artist's enigmatic nature can best beappreciated within his "blp" works (pronounced 'blip'): a series of oblong-shaped symbols, mostly black, which Artschwager first dotted about the KonradFischer gallery in the late 1960s. Scattered inside and outside museums, eitherin three-dimensional form, or spray painted using a stencil, blps were intendedfor viewers to spot by accident or locate systematically. Artschwager has saidthat the blps have just one purpose: to make us pay attention to what is aroundus, and to accompany the current exhibition in New York, 10 blps of varying

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sizes have been positioned on the High Line, which runs through Chelsea andthe Meatpacking District.

Richard Artschwager! is at the Whitney Museum of American Art until 3rdFebruary 2013.

Text by Allie Biswas

Richard Artschwager!5 images

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