Pace

Richard Tuttle

07 Sep - 13 Oct 2012

Systems, VII-XII

NEW YORK, August 17, 2012—Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Richard Tuttle. Systems, VIII–XII will be on view at 534 West 25th Street from September 7–October 13. An opening reception will be held at 534 West 25th Street on Thursday, September 6 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Systems, VIII–XII continues Tuttle’s search for a new type of sculpture that expands space physically while retaining the intimacy of his smaller works. The exhibition features five recent free-standing sculptures, called “Systems.” Conceived as investigations of sculpture as spatial interpenetration, rather than concrete, three-dimensional form, Tuttle’s first six systems, exhibited at Pace in 2011, explored the vertical axis between the floor and the ceiling; his newest works will center on the horizontal access and the relation with the floor. A full-color, illustrated catalogue, including poems written by the artist for each of his twelve systems created to date, will accompany the exhibition. New works that pair delicate drawings and wall-mounted sculptural elements will also be on view in the exhibition.

Since the 1960s, Tuttle has created an extraordinarily varied body of work that eludes historical or stylistic categorization, working instead in the space between painting, sculpture, poetry, assemblage, and drawing. Without a specific reference point, Tuttle’s investigations of line, volume, color, texture, shape, and form are imbued with a sense of spirituality and informed by a deep intellectual curiosity. Teasing beauty out of humble materials, the artist reflects the fragility of the world in his poetic works, which he often presents at a scale antithetical to the art world. Language and spatial relationship are also central concerns for the artist, who maintains an acute awareness for the viewer’s aesthetic experience.

Richard Tuttle will be an artist in residence at The Getty Research Institute from September through June 2013, where he will work on his self-entitled project, “Researching Research.” The artist was also selected to participate in the Getty’s annual Scholars Program, which this year will center on the theme of “color.”

Upcoming museum exhibitions include Richard Tuttle & Mei-mei Berssenbrugge: Hello, The Roses, on view at Kunstverein Munich, Germany (October 6–November 25), and Richard Tuttle: Slide (November 3–December 16), organized by Bergen Kunsthall and installed over three halls on the second floor of Lysverket at the neighboring Bergen Art Museum, the building housing the most comprehensive overview of the institution’s holdings. The artist’s show at Bergen—his first in Norway—is spread over the floor of pre-modern religious art, and is experienced as small ruptures in the museum’s traditional narrative, eluding art historical or stylistic categorization.

Tuttle has been the subject of hundreds of solo exhibitions since 1965, including numerous museum surveys, ranging from his first, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1975, to more recently, a two-year traveling retrospective organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2005-2007). He has also been included in the prestigious group exhibitions the Venice Biennale (1976, 1997, 2001) and the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial (1977, 1987, 2000). His work is held nearly every major public collection worldwide, including in Europe at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; and in the U.S. at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution; the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.: and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art,New York, among many others.

Richard Tuttle lives and works in Mount Desert, Maine; Abiquiu, New Mexico; and New York City. He has been represented by Pace since 2007.
 

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