“The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents the exhibition Richard Artschwager, a unique occasion to survey the creative career of Richard Artschwager (Washington, D.C., 1923 – Albany, New York, 2013), an artist who worked halfway between painting and sculpture and who developed a unique language using the new domestic materials of his time. This ambitious project, conceived by world-renowned curator Germano Celant and co-organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and MART – Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, comprises almost 70 pieces alongside a selection of rarely-seen archival documentation.
Designed as an open labyrinth highlighting the main nuclei of Artschwager’s oeuvre, the exhibition features a comprehensive selection of paintings and sculptures dating from the early 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century: from his first wood and Formica structures and paintings on Celotex to his nylon-bristle sculptures and ‘corner pieces,’ including works in horsehair and so-called blps, which the artist began making in 1968 and displaying individually or on a citywide scale. Artschwager, who had a crucial experience as a cabinetmaker at the beginning of his career, always worked toward the fusion of figuration and abstraction, artistic innovation and design, and ironically sought to combine the functional and the useless.” ― Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Richard Artschwager. Table and Chair, 1963-64. Melamine and wood. 755 x 1320 x 952 mm. Object: 1143 x 438 x 533 mm. Tate: Purchased 1983. Photo: Tate © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Apartment House, 1964. Liquitex, Celotex, Formica. 177 x 126.5 x 16 cm. Museum Ludwig, Köln. Donation Collection Ludwig, 1976 © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Fabrikhalle, 1969. Acrylic paint on drywall and chipboard, HPL. 73.30 x 92.60 x 7 cm. Museum Ulm – Stiftung Sammlung Kurt Fried. Photo: Armin Buhl © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Tower III (Confessional), 1980. Formica and oak. 152.5 x 119 x 81.1 cm. Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, permanent loan to the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel. Photo: Bisig & Bayer, Basel Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Two Point Perspective, 1994. Acrylic on Celotex, Formica on wood, acrylic on wood. 136 x 139 x 5 cm. Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Heinz and Marianne Ebers-Stiftung © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Door }, 1983-84. Acrylic and lacquer on wood and glass, metal, two parts. 207.6 x 165.1 x 24.8 cm. Collection Kerstin Hiller and Helmut Schmelzer, on loan to Neues Museum Nürnberg. Photo: Annette Kradisch © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Search for Tomorrow, 2004. Acrylic and fiber panel on artist’s frame. 120.6 x 189.2 cm. Private collection © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Exclamation Point, 2010. Plastic bristles on a mahogany core painted with latex. 165.1 × 55.9 × 55.9 cm. Private collection. Courtesy Gallery Xavier Hufkens, Brussels. Photo: Allan Bovenberg © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Standing woman (Dirne), 1999. Acrylic, rubberized hair on Masonite. 213.4 x 114.3 x 6.4 cm. Private collection, Vienna © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. City of Man, 1981. Acrylic and charcoal on Celotex and plastic laminate with plexiglass. 197.5 × 458 × 13.3 cm. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Promised gift of Emily Fisher Landau P.2010.17.a-c © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Portrait Zero, 1961. Wood, screws, and rope. 114.9 x 68.7 x 14 cm. Sammlung Michalke, Germany © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Weave (Green), 1991. Acrylic and Celotex on panel. 171.2 x 131 x 9 cm. Courtesy Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli. Photo: Luciano Romano © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Table Prepared in the Presence of Enemies II, 1992. Wood, metal, screws and Formica. The SYZ Collection, Switzerland © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. Splatter Table, 1992. Laminate, wood, aluminum. Variable dimensions. Collection S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst Ghent © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager. This Way – That Way, 2012. Acrylic on handmade paper on soundboard. 130 x 116.8 cm. Augustus and Clara Artschwager Collection, Courtesy of Gagosian © Estate of Richard Artschwager, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2020
Richard Artschwager was curated by Germano Celant and Manuel Cirauqui, curator of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Images courtesy Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
You must be logged in to post a comment.