Agnes Martin/Richard Tuttle
Installation View Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines,
Pace Gallery, New York, 2017,
(left) Richard Tuttle (1941 - ): 43rd Wire Piece, 1972/2017, wire, graphite and nails,
installation dimensions variable,
exhibition copy number one measures 10 1/4 x 23 1/8 x 11 1/2 in. (51,4 x 58.7 x 29.2 cm);
(right) Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004): Untitled #1, 1990,
acrylic and graphite on canvas, 72 x 72 in. (182.88 x 182.88 cm)
Photo: Kerry Ryan McFate/Pace Gallery
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
Courtesy of Pace Gallery
Pauline Oliveros (1932 - 2016), the late composer, accordionist, music theoretician and teacher, developed the concept of what she called "Deep Listening." This involved training and encouraging professional musicians as well as non-professionals to focus on listening to sounds as opposed to simply hearing them. To hear refers to the ability to perceive aural sensations. To listen requires attentiveness and focus. One is involuntary; the other is voluntary. Listening deeply heightens and enhances the musical experience opening up a new consciousness to the auditory environment.
The minimalist work of Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004) and Richard Tuttle (1941 - ) bring to mind the idea of "Deep Looking." Their art intensifies the visual experience when the observer engages in deep looking as opposed to merely seeing. The full beauty and inventiveness of their work reveals itself with sustained visual concentration.
The perceptively curated Pace Gallery exhibition, Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines, illustrates this point. For the show, Tuttle created eight wire pieces in response to seven Martin paintings dating from c. 1960 to 2003. Close friends for some forty decades, the two artists have not been shown together for almost twenty years.
The perceptively curated Pace Gallery exhibition, Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines, illustrates this point. For the show, Tuttle created eight wire pieces in response to seven Martin paintings dating from c. 1960 to 2003. Close friends for some forty decades, the two artists have not been shown together for almost twenty years.
Installation View Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines,
Pace Gallery, New York, 2017,
(left) Richard Tuttle (1941 - ): 29rd Wire Piece, 1972/2017, wire, graphite and nails,
installation dimensions variable,
exhibition copy number one measures 34 x 31 x 13 in. (86.4 x 78.7x 33 cm);
(right) Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004): Untitled, c. 1960,
oil on canvas, 65 x 65 in. (165.1 x 165.1 cm)
Photo: Kerry Ryan McFate/Pace Gallery
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
Courtesy of Pace Gallery
The installation calls for a few minutes of eye adjustment. The gallery's walls have been repainted to blend with Martin's paintings and lighting has been heightened. The experience at first is of a blinding light with only Martin's paintings discernable. As represented in the images here, like apparitions, Tuttle's works appear only after visual acclimatization.
Martin paints subtle modulations of vertical and horizontal lines and grids. Employing muted colors, the repetitiveness of the forms evokes a sense of peacefulness and spirituality. Tuttle draws a pencil line on the wall and attaches a wire to the wall near the ends of the drawing. The shadow cast by the wire completes his three part poetic compositions.
Tuttle's pieces change according to the installation. The pencil line's thickness or thinness, the wire's configuration and the darkness or lightness of the wire's silhouette against the wall will vary according to the particular surroundings and the artist's manipulation. These are quiet works like the Martin's paintings. Together, the pairing offers viewers a respite from the visual cacophony of today's world. They lead to an acuteness of looking while proffering serenity. Go take a look.
Note: Pace Gallery's solo exhibit of Richard Tuttle sculptures, Richard Tuttle: 100 Epigrams, is on view at the same time as Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines. In a room on the gallery's third floor, one flight up from Agnes Martin/Richard Tuttle show, seven of Tuttle's charming constructions attract and delight. Ordinary, unremarkable materials are transformed into wondrous objects. The pieces are Tuttle at his best.
Installation View Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines,
Pace Gallery, New York, 2017,
(left) Richard Tuttle (1941 - ): 39th Wire Piece, 1972/2017, wire, graphite and nails,
installation dimensions variable,
exhibition copy number one measures 26 3/4 x 32 1/2 (67.9 x 82.6 cm);
(right) Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004): Untitled #8, c. 1989,
acrylic and graphite on canvas, 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm)
Photo: Kerry Ryan McFate/Pace Gallery
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
© 2017 Estate of Agnes Martin /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York© Richard Tuttle
Courtesy of Pace Gallery
Martin paints subtle modulations of vertical and horizontal lines and grids. Employing muted colors, the repetitiveness of the forms evokes a sense of peacefulness and spirituality. Tuttle draws a pencil line on the wall and attaches a wire to the wall near the ends of the drawing. The shadow cast by the wire completes his three part poetic compositions.
Tuttle's pieces change according to the installation. The pencil line's thickness or thinness, the wire's configuration and the darkness or lightness of the wire's silhouette against the wall will vary according to the particular surroundings and the artist's manipulation. These are quiet works like the Martin's paintings. Together, the pairing offers viewers a respite from the visual cacophony of today's world. They lead to an acuteness of looking while proffering serenity. Go take a look.
Note: Pace Gallery's solo exhibit of Richard Tuttle sculptures, Richard Tuttle: 100 Epigrams, is on view at the same time as Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines. In a room on the gallery's third floor, one flight up from Agnes Martin/Richard Tuttle show, seven of Tuttle's charming constructions attract and delight. Ordinary, unremarkable materials are transformed into wondrous objects. The pieces are Tuttle at his best.
Richard Tuttle (1941 - ), 100 Epigrams, 2017, (A) vinyl tubing, metal, Elmer's glue, canvas, pine wood, wool thread, tape, paper clips, purple rice paper, and mixed media; (B) cardboard, pine wood, copper wire, glue, wool thread, Elmer's glue, canvas, paper clips, purple rice paper, and mixed media,
(A) 29 3/4 x 20 x 6 1/2 in. (75.6 x 50.8 x 16.5 cm),
(B) 30 x 20 1/4 x 8 (76.2 x 132.1 x 20.3 cm)
Photo: GrandDude Web site
Agnes Martin, Richard Tuttle: Crossing Lines
November 2, 2017 - January 13, 2018
32 East 57th Street, Manhattan
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