Installation view: Richard Tuttle’s “Village V”. All images courtesy of Tom Powel Imaging for Sperone Westwater Gallery.
Currently on view at Sperone Westwater Gallery through May 22, 2010, is Richard Tuttle‘s “Village V”. The exhibition is composed of 26 drawings and one sculpture against stenciled walls. It seeks to expand the concept of drawing, investigate color and line, question ideas of composition and frame, and merge the mystical with the tangible. The work was one of Tuttle’s six “Villages” shown in “Richard Tuttle: It’s a Room for 3 People” at the Drawing Center in 2005.
Richard Tuttle, “Village V, No. II, 9”, 2004, balsa wood, sawdust, acrylic and graphite on paper, 14 x 16 7/8 inches (35,6 x 42,9 cm)
More text and images after the jump…
Installed at eye level are three sets of small-scale and meticulously worked drawings. The first group consists of tightly framed graphite and acrylic works on paper mounted on board and behind glass. In a second group, Tuttle mounts the drawings directly on the wall with floating frames that reveal the stenciled wall behind them; shadows are cast by the frames. The third group focuses on singular and representational images, such as a band of fabric in the center of white painted boards. Constructed white wood frames are inset from the edge of each work. A large tube-like sculpture juts out from the wall into the viewer’s space as a strategy to invite the viewer to enter the intimate drawing space.
One of the major motifs of this exhibition is Tuttle’s exploration of materiality and the physical parameters of the art object. He uses the idea of a village as a self-contained community to invite the visitor to form visual connections and view this work as a whole despite its diverse pieces. As well as a long interest in myths and fairytales, Tuttle is interested in creating works that are inviting, personal, and intimate.
Born in 1941, Richard Tuttle lives and works in New Mexico and New York City. His work has been exhibited extensively worldwide since 1965. Recent solo exhibitions include the retrospective The Art of Richard Tuttle organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art which traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Des Moines Art Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (2005-2007). Tuttle’s work can be found in over 45 major public collections all over the world.
Richard Tuttle, “Village V, No. I, 1”, 2004, graphite, acrylic, paper, maple wood, museum board and glass, 18 3/8 x 15 3/8 x 1 1/2 inches (46,7 x 39 x 3,8 cm)
Richard Tuttle, “Village V, No. II, 6“, 2004, acrylic, watercolor and graphite on paper, 16 7/8 x 14 inches (42,9 x 35,6 cm)
Richard Tuttle, “Village V, No. III, 1”, 2004, colored pencil, acrylic on basswood and illustration board, 12 x 9 x 1/2 inches (30,5 x 22,9 x 1,3 cm)
Detail, Installation view: Richard Tuttle, “Village V, Sculpture”, 2004, styrene, fir plywood, vinyl, acrylic, canvas, florescent lamp, straight pins, brass wire, and charcoal, 61 1/2 x 31 x 62 1/2 inches (156,2 x 78,7 x 158,8 cm)
– J. Lindblad
Related Links:
Exhibition Site [Sperone Westwater]
Richard Tuttle: Bio & Interviews [Art:21]
