Richard Artschwager
Gegenwärtig aber ungenau
In spring 2005 Georg Kargl opened his new exhibition hall BOX next to his gallery in Schleifmühlgasse and inspired the 82-year-old American artist Richard Artschwager to action. Creating the front design for the BOX, Artschwager contributed a new permanent art installation to Vienna. The installation stands out as a new urban landmark in the historic ambience of the apartment building with its red-violet marble front erected by Ernst Epstein between 1910- 1911.
Richard Artschwager is presenting his recent series of works of figural wall installations from rubberised horsehair on the new premises. The series of life-size, coloured figures performing every-day acts, partly with sweeping gestures, is titled Gegenwärtig aber ungenau (Omnipresent but blurry). The traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture blur to form an amalgam between images and objects, between three-dimensional images and two- dimensional sculptures. The installations made of pigment on masonite and hanging on the wall like pictures seem to abandon the place assigned to them in the spatial structure and to be suspended in mid-air. With expressive gestures and movements, they establish relations with one another and the onlooker. This dynamism is highlighted in titles with the stress on active verbs, e.g. Running Man, Rejoicing Woman, Climbing Boy or Crouching Man.
Artschwager has developed his so-called blps already since 1967/68, whose beginnings were marked by a combination of graphic impulses, such as lines, Y- shapes and hooks. The spatial design of these elements was realised as oblong lozenges, which – being “more effective than a dot” – were first arranged in groups of sawn-out painted wooden components. When Artschwager presented them for the first time at Galerie Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf in June 1968, die blps spilt like black spots over from the defined exhibition space into window surfaces, the entrance and ceiling, resisting any architectural concept. According to Artschwager’s records, he later created horsehair blps because he wanted „to make a blp that did not look like a hole punched into space but a soft spot in the air as hard as a diamond“.
In contrast to his formica furniture sculptures of excellent workmanship reduced to basic geometric forms, whose complete, clear-cut outlines aim at avoiding subjective expression to the extent possible, his horsehair sculptures with soft and real-life silhouettes play with spatial illusionist effects.
After 1998 he created about 30 of his horsehair scissors cuts from the same material he had previously used for the blps and hair boxes. As with the blps, in this exhibition the artist breaks with the architectural context. The isolated reduced shape - quasi representing the antithesis to experiencing life - is, however, replaced by a performing dynamic figure. Life in its most profound meaning can never be pinned down and enclosed within a self-contained form. The continuous movements and vibrations of all elements lead to a "blurring" that makes the energetic state perceptible, omnipresent. Artschwager simulates this state with the material used and by resorting to figural representation.
Biography
born 1923 in Washington, D.C., died 2013 in Albany, NY
Education
1948
B.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020
Richard Artschwager, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
New Mexico, Sprüth Magers, Berlin
2019
Richard Artschwager, MART, Rovereto
2016
Books, Punctuation, Splats & Time, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Sculpture / Eye / Painting / Touch, Peder Lund, Oslo
2015
Punctuating Space: The Prints and Multiples of Richard Artschwager, The Frances Lehman
Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
2014
Richard Artschwager!, Nouveau Musee National de Monaco, Monaco
2013
Richard Artschwager, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
PORTRAITS!, Sprüth Magers, London
2012
The Desert, David Nolen, New York
Richard Artschwager, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Richard Artschwager, Gagosian, Rome
2011
Richard Artschwager, David Nolen, New York
Richard Artschwager, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Richard Artschwager, curated by Rob Pruitt, Carlson Gallery, London
2010
Hair, Contemorary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis
2009
Richard Artschwager, Sprüth Magers, Berlin
2008
Objects as images of objects, David Nolan Gallery, New York
Richard Artschwager, Gagosian, New York
2006
Sculpture, Sprüth Magers, Munich
New Paintings, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
Interactions, David Nolan Gallery, New York
2005
Gegenwärtig aber ungenau, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
2004
Painting Then and Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
Richard Artschwager, Sprüth Magers, Cologne
2003
Richard Artschwager, Gagosian Gallery, London
Zeichnungen 1960–2002, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Auf und Nieder, Kreuz und Quer, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
2002
The Hydraulic Door Check, MAK Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
Richard Artschwager, Gagosian Gallery, New York
2001
Up and Across, Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design, Nurember Serpentine Gallery, London
2000
Richard Artschwager, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1998
Sculpture 1967–1983, Daniel Weinberg Contemporary Art, San Francisco
Richard Artschwager, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
1997
Richard Artschwager, Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1994
Richard Artschwager, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
1992
Connections: Richard Artschwager, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1991
Multiples, Galerie Metropol, Vienna
1990
The Sixties Revisited: New Concepts/New Materials, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1989
Richard Artschwager, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1988
Richard Artschwager, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1987
Richard Artschwager, Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1985
Richard Artschwager, Kunsthalle Basel, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Richard Artschwager, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1983
Richard Artschwager, Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1980
Richard Artschwager, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco
1978
Zu Gast in Hamburg – Richard Artschwager, Beschreibungen, Definitionen, Auslassungen, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg
1975
Artschwager Drawings (Basket,Table, Door, Window, Mirror, Rug), Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Plastic World, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
2022
Prelude, MACBA, Barcelona
2020
Small is beautiful: (A)rtschwager to (Z)augg, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich
2019
Now Is The Time, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
2018
Beverly Semmes + Richard Artschwager: Blue Sky with Green Moon and Lake, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York
The world on Paper, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin
CONCENTRATION - a tribute, Gesellschaft für projektive Ästhetik, Georg Kargl, Vienna
space edits, Beirut Art Center, Beirut
Syntheses, Krakow Witkin Center, Krakow
From the Collection/Against the Wall, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent
America! America! How Real Is Real?, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
2017
Specifics, Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston
Strange Attractors, The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art Vol.1 Live on Earth, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles
Corners / In Between, Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin
Small Sculpture, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago
Noch schöner Wohnen, Galerie Jürgen Becker, Hamburg
Art And Alphabet, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
Screen Memory, Simon Lee Gallery, London
2016
On the Subject of Ready-Made, Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart
On the Subject of Reday-Made, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Good Things Come To Those Who Wait, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie, Paris
Drawing Room, David Nolan Gallery, New York
Paysages contemporains, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bignan
Sous Réserves, Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds
Die Sprache der Dinge - Materialgeschichten aus der Sammlung, 21er Haus, Vienna
Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime, Hall Art Foundation, Reading
Drawing Dialogues Selections from the Sol LeWitt Collection, The Drawing Center, New York
The Natural Order of Things, Museo Jumex, Mexico City
Ordinary Pictures, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
The Sonnabend Collection: Meio Século De Arte Europeia E Americana. Part 1, Museu Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
Aufschlussreiche Räume Interieur als Porträt, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
2015
Greater New York, MoMa PS1, New York
Future Present, Schaulager, BaselAmerica Is Hard To See, Whitney Museum, New York
SELBSTJUSTIZ DURCH FEHLEINKÄUFE – Neuerwerbungen der Sammlung Falckenberg 2011-2014, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg
Geometries on and Off the Grid: Art from 1950 to the Present, The Warehouse, Dallas
Sigmund Freud. Eine Installation von Joseph Kosuth, 21er Haus, Vienna
2014
Traces of Modernism, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Post/Postminimal, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen
Pop Culture. Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton
Zeichen. Sprache. Bilder – Schrift in der Kunst seit den 1960er Jahren, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
2013
When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013, Fondazione Prada – Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice
A Stone Left Unturned, Yvon Lambert, Paris
2012
Ab in die Ecke! (Into The Corner!), Städtische Galerie, Delmenhorst
Malerei der 80er Jahre, curated by Albert Oehlen, Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Architectural. Dispositions, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles
Loughelton Revisited, curated by Barbara Broughel, Winklemann Gallery, New York
Living with Art, Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart
1964, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Object Fictions, James Cohan Gallery, New York
2011
25 Jahre! Sammlung Henri Nannen, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden
If We Cannot Free Ourselves, We Can Free Our Vision, Galerie Oqbo, Berlin
Paradigm Shift. Serralves Collection 60's-70's, MUSAC, León
Site Inspection. The Museum on the Museum, Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest
1991..., Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin
Zwei Sammler. Thomas Olbricht und Harald Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Die Heinz und Marianne Ebers-Stiftung, Museen Haus Lange - Haus Esters, Krefeld
Bild / Objekt: Neuere Amerikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur
Hyper Real - Kunst und Amerika um 1970, Ludwig Forum, Aachen
2010
Crosstown Traffic, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
Fine Line, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Zu[m] Tisch! Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Ludwig, Ludwig Galerie Schloss Oberhausen, Oberhausen
Collecting Biennials, Whitney Museum, New York
Ich weiß gar nicht, was Kunst ist, Marta Herford, Herford
Hyper Real. Die Passion des Realen in der Malerei und Fotografie, MUMOK, Vienna
Gesehen & Geliebt # Pots & Paper. Kölner Privatsammlung, Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne
Amerikanische Graphik seit 1960, Kunsthaus Grenchen, Grenchen
Filmschönheit, Curated by Albert Oehlen, Filmschönheit, Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna
2009
Entre Deux Actes – Loge De Comédienne, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
Source Codes, Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Twentysix Gasoline Stations Ed Altri Libri D´Artista. Una Collezione, Museo Regionale di Messina, Messina
Wall Table Chair, Kenworthy-Ball Zürich, Zurich
MOCA´s First Thirty Years, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1969, P.S.1 MoMA, Long Island
Portrait de l´artiste en motocycliste / Portrait of the artist as biker, Le Magasin, Grenoble
Learn to read art. A history of printed matter (1976-2009), P.S.1 MoMA, Long Island; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
Meisterwerke der Moderne. Die Sammlung des Kunstmuseums Winthertur, Mart Trento e Rovereto
Die Kunst ist super!, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Hello Goodbye Thank You, Again, castillo/corrales Paris, Paris
Gegen den Strich! 15 Jahre Sammlung des Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Gipfeltreffen der Moderne, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle Bonn, Bonn
Die Gegenwart der Linie, Pinakothek der Moderne München, Munich
1968. Die Große Unschuld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld
Exile on Main St., Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht
N´importe quoi, Musée d´Art Contemporain, Lyon
Synthetic, Whitney Museum, New York
Sculptural – Collection. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
Go Figure, Gagosian Gallery, New York
2008
Prefab, Gagosian Gallery, New York
Egypted, Kunsthalle Exnergasse WUK, Vienna
Interieur/Exterieur. Wohnen in der Kunst, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Made in Munich, Haus der Kunst, Munich
Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Museum of Modern Art, Oostende
Carte Blance III: Gedichte der Fakten, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
Arbeiten mit der Sammlung Rolf Ricke, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen, Esslingen
Marc Camille Chaimowicz, De Appel, Amsterdam
Peripherer Blick und kollektiver Körper, Museion, Bozen
Die Hände der Kunst, Marta Herford, Herford
Künstler zeichnen – Sammler stiften, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
True Romance - Allegorien der Liebe von der Renaissance bis heute, Kunsthalle zu Kiel – Christian Albrechts Universität, Kiel
True Romance - Allegorien der Liebe von der Renaissance bis heute, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
2007
True Romance - Allegorien der Liebe von der Renaissance bis heute, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
The Painting of Modern Life, The Hayward Gallery, London
Pop Art is.., Gagosian Gallery, London
Das Bauhaus (Agora!), MASP - Museo de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo
Klio - Eine kurze Geschichte der Kunst in Euramerika nach 1945, ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst & Medienmuseum, Karlsruhe
Das Kapital – Blue Chips & Masterpieces, Sammlung Rolf Ricke, MMK - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
Lust for Life. Die Sammlung Ricke, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
FRANZ WEST: SOUFFLÉ, eine Massenausstellung, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck
Summer Group Show, David Nolan Gallery, New York
The Lath Picture Show, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
Conceptual Paper, Arndt & Partner, Zurich
Galerie des Multiples, Galerie Edward Mitterrand, Geneva
what a day, 2006, Galerie Loyal, Kassel
Collectors 1 - Collezione La Gaia, CeSAC - Centro Sperimentale per le Arti Contemporanea, Caraglio
LINK, Galerie Edward Mitterand, Geneva
Richard Artschwager- Louise Bourgeois - Roni Horn - Raymond Pettibon, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Kilo. Eine kurze Geschichte der Kunst in Euramerika nach 1945, ZKM, Karlsruhe
Collezione La Gaia, CeSAC, Caraglio
Shadow, Galerie Lelong, New York
War and Discontent, MFA - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
MONDI POSSIBILI, Sprüth Magers, Cologne
2006
Plane/Figure, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur
The Subverted Object, Ubu Gallery, New York
Prints & Multiples, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Collection of Edward R. Broida, National Gallery, Washington
Redefined, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington
Chers amis, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan
Dialog Skulptur, Museum im Kulturspeicher, Wuerzburg
Richard Artschwager, Otto Muehl, Bruce Nauman, Gerhard Richter - Prints & Multiples, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Against the Grain, MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Drawing through it, David Nolan Gallery, New York
Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images, LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Was ist Plastik? 100 Jahre - 100 Köpfe - Das Jahrhundert moderner Skulptur, Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Center of International Sculpture, Duisburg
I still love the 20th Century, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
20e Anniversaire de la Galerie, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie, Paris
Conversation with Art, on Art, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
Goetz meets Falckenberg, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg
Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
2005
Fast nichts–Minimalistische Werke aus der Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Design is not Art, Aspern Art Museum, Aspern
Meilenstein, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg
Internationale Zeichner, Galerie Biedermann, Munich
Grey Flags, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
Big Bang – Destruction and creation in 20th century art, Centre Pompidou, Paris
(my private) Heroes, Marta Herford, Herford
25 Jahre Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Guggenheim-Berlin, Berlin
Sweet Temptations. Sammlung Rolf Ricke, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen
None of the Above. John Armieder, Swiss Institute, New York
Works on Paper, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
2004
From Above, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
DaimlerChrysler Collection, South African National Gallery, Capetown
Design is not Art, Cooper-Hewitt, New York
Support 2. Die Neue Galerie als Sammlung, Neue Galerie, Graz
How Sculptors See, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester
Visions of America, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg
DaimlerChrysler Collection for South Africa, Pretoria Art Museum; Museum Africa, Johannesburg
The Big Nothing, ICA-Institue of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
A Minimal Future?, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Das MoMA in Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
On the Edge, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Support 1. Die Neue Galerie als Sammlung, Neue Galerie, Graz
Richard Artschwager / Ed Ruscha, Brooke Alexander Editions, New York
2003
Re-Production 2, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
A simple plan, James Cohan Gallery, New York
Gelijk het leven, SMAK, Ghent
Hyperréalismes USA 1965-1975, MAMCS, Strasbourg
Les 20 ans des FRAC, FRAC-Regionen, Paris
The DaimlerChrysler Collection, ZKM, Karlsruhe
Minimalism and After II, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Der weite Blick, Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne
Einfach Kunst. Sammlung Ricke, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nuremberg
Private/Corporate I, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Iconoclash, ZKM, Karlsruhe
Schokolade, was denn sonst – Sammlung Rolf Ricke, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck
2002
That Place, The Moon Space, Miami
2001
Zusammenhänge im Biotop Kunst, kunsthaus muerz, Muerzzuschlag
steirischer herbst 2001, Graz
Mélanges, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan
Re-Location on moving, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
2000
Dinge in der Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts, Haus der Kunst, Munich
1999
Weg aus dem Bild, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
1998
Crossings. Kunst zum Hören und Sehen, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
1997
Deep Storage – Arsenale der Erinnerung, Haus der Kunst, Munich
Birth of the Cool: Amerikanische Malerei, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich
1994
The Century of the Multiple, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
1992
documenta IX, Kassel
1991
Das Bild nach dem letzten Bild, Galerie Metropol, Vienna
Metropolis, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin
1989
Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Jonathan Borofsky, Robert Gober, Pater Halley, Nancy Shaver, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1987
documenta VIII, Kassel
Skulptur. Projekte in Münster 1987, Skulptur Projekte Münster, Muenster
1983
Biennial Exhibition, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1982
documenta VII, Kassel
1980
39th Venice Biennale, Venice
1976
Rooms, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
1972
documenta V, Kassel
1969
When Attitudes Become Form, ICA, London; Museen Haus Lange – Haus Esters, Krefeld; Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
1968
documenta IV, Kassel
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