Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
All images via Anthem unless otherwise noted
Richard Tuttle’s Renaissance Unframed, which is currently on view through January 9th at Carolina Nitsch Project Room in Chelsea, New York brings together 25 encaustic drawings by the artist, with an accompanying sculpture. The post-minimalist artist (b. 1941), known primarily for his scale and line, has five of these pieces on view at a time thus creating a dynamic gallery environment.
More text, images and related links after the jump….
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
The process Tuttle employs to create each piece leaves much to chance. Hot wax is applied to a silk screen that is backed by muslin pieces which are receptive to absorbing the medium. Temperature of the wax is also used as a variable, thus creating soft and hard edges to the painted shapes resulting in a light depth of field effect.
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
The pieces are uniquely folded and pinned to the gallery walls in a loose fashion thus evoking the sense that these have floated into place. Sculptural by nature, the new composition that the pieces form when installed creates a fresh dialog between the pigments. The conversations that take place could be altered if hung again in a different formation, thus having the ability to breathe new life into these “less is more” pieces.
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
Anchoring the pieces are a dense black bronze sculpture placed on the gallery floor directly below. As the sculptures diagonal breaks allude to the forms and shapes created on their counterpart above, they symbolize a grounding earth-like opposition to the almost whimsical “unframed” notions in the painted pieces. Even though the over-arching title of this collection is Renaissance Unframed, each piece represents a letter of the alphabet, with the bronze piece acting as the 26th letter tying the whole series together.
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
By using the whole environment of the gallery, whether it be the three-dimensional quality the pieces take on when adhered to the wall or the sculptures on another plane, the livelihood of the works reaches far beyond the surfaces which hold them.
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
This entire series was originally shown at the USF Contemporary Art Museum and created at their Institute for Research in Art/Graphic studio at the University of South Florida, Tampa.
Richard Tuttle's Renaissance Unframed
Above image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery Online
Related Links:
Richard Tuttle Collection [Art:21 PBS]
Richard Tuttle [WSJ]
Richard Tuttle Interview [Guggenheim]
Richard Tuttle Review [NY Mag]
– J.Lovallo
