Richard Tuttle
31 May - 29 Sep 2012
RICHARD TUTTLE
Paper
31 May - 29 September 2012
Richard Tuttle chose this name for our exhibition. Paper as an exhibition title suggests that drawings are the focal point in this presentation of works and work groups. It remains open what else might be undertaken with paper. Richard Tuttle can be counted on to offer unexpected and surprising formulations.
Indeed, drawing acts as the center of artistic endeavors in Richard Tuttle's oeuvre. "Art is discipline and discipline is drawing. Drawing will change before art will." (1968 R.T.) Drawings function as path and movement, leading from at times modest points of departure to the valid works.
Drawing notebooks and drawing blocks are places of work for Tuttle. Even more than the studio, they are always at hand, at one's service at all times and everywhere. They offer resonance chambers of the imagination. Configurations and signs mark dimensions of depth, like vertical and horizontal expansion. The designated notebook sheets thereby form escape routes and sequences. Strokes and marks develop hints of regularities, which are consequently varied or discarded. Once removed from the spiral notebook, the perforation remains along with the "family resemblance" as clear evidence of the works' origin. In some cases, the sequence is important. It represents the making of the work, illustrates the factors of time and reflection. A special form of presentation as a series of drawings or as a block of works is assigned to such works in the exhibition. Many parts can often come together to form a single large work. The careful framing created especially for this purpose always plays an important role. All details are coordinated and intended. Precise instructions concern the hanging and the determination of the distance from the floor to the "Center Point" of the sheet of paper.
These observations show that Richard Tuttle’s drawings make sound references to the characteristics and the history of a genuinely artistic form of expression. Even the particular mode of observation and perception that arises in the process of differentiating aspects of the medium is utilized.
The artist's long shared path with the gallery has often been associated with Richard Tuttle's oeuvre of drawings. In 1974, our gallery in Zurich held its first solo exhibition of Tuttle's works with the "Heavy Wire Pieces", works that can be described as lines in solid material. In 1976, the artist provided us with 289 sheets, consisting of all the drawings he could find in his studio. They formed the basis for a legendary exhibition in 1977 at Kunsthalle Basel. In 1979, we were able to present an extensive publication with the help of friends in which all the drawings are reproduced: "List of Drawing Material of Richard Tuttle & Appendices". The form and content of the book made history.
The retrospective of drawings shown in the gallery in 2010 constituted an impressive look back at an outstanding aspect of the work of Richard Tuttle. The present show is now oriented to the current, exceedingly vital stand of things.
Paper
31 May - 29 September 2012
Richard Tuttle chose this name for our exhibition. Paper as an exhibition title suggests that drawings are the focal point in this presentation of works and work groups. It remains open what else might be undertaken with paper. Richard Tuttle can be counted on to offer unexpected and surprising formulations.
Indeed, drawing acts as the center of artistic endeavors in Richard Tuttle's oeuvre. "Art is discipline and discipline is drawing. Drawing will change before art will." (1968 R.T.) Drawings function as path and movement, leading from at times modest points of departure to the valid works.
Drawing notebooks and drawing blocks are places of work for Tuttle. Even more than the studio, they are always at hand, at one's service at all times and everywhere. They offer resonance chambers of the imagination. Configurations and signs mark dimensions of depth, like vertical and horizontal expansion. The designated notebook sheets thereby form escape routes and sequences. Strokes and marks develop hints of regularities, which are consequently varied or discarded. Once removed from the spiral notebook, the perforation remains along with the "family resemblance" as clear evidence of the works' origin. In some cases, the sequence is important. It represents the making of the work, illustrates the factors of time and reflection. A special form of presentation as a series of drawings or as a block of works is assigned to such works in the exhibition. Many parts can often come together to form a single large work. The careful framing created especially for this purpose always plays an important role. All details are coordinated and intended. Precise instructions concern the hanging and the determination of the distance from the floor to the "Center Point" of the sheet of paper.
These observations show that Richard Tuttle’s drawings make sound references to the characteristics and the history of a genuinely artistic form of expression. Even the particular mode of observation and perception that arises in the process of differentiating aspects of the medium is utilized.
The artist's long shared path with the gallery has often been associated with Richard Tuttle's oeuvre of drawings. In 1974, our gallery in Zurich held its first solo exhibition of Tuttle's works with the "Heavy Wire Pieces", works that can be described as lines in solid material. In 1976, the artist provided us with 289 sheets, consisting of all the drawings he could find in his studio. They formed the basis for a legendary exhibition in 1977 at Kunsthalle Basel. In 1979, we were able to present an extensive publication with the help of friends in which all the drawings are reproduced: "List of Drawing Material of Richard Tuttle & Appendices". The form and content of the book made history.
The retrospective of drawings shown in the gallery in 2010 constituted an impressive look back at an outstanding aspect of the work of Richard Tuttle. The present show is now oriented to the current, exceedingly vital stand of things.