Richard Artschwager

1 JUNE THROUGH AUTUMN 2020
 
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO | BILBAO, SPAIN
 
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
 

American artist Richard Artschwager (1923 - 2013) worked halfway between painting and sculpture and developed a unique language using the new domestic materials of his time. Conceived by world-renowned curator Germano Celant (1940-2020), the exhibition comprises almost 70 pieces alongside a selection of rarely-seen archival documentation.

Designed as an open labyrinth, the exhibition offers a comprehensive selection of paintings and sculptures dating from the early 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century: first wood and Formica structures, paintings on Celotex, nylon-bristle sculptures, “corner pieces” as well as horsehair works and so-called blps, which the artist began making in 1968 and displaying individually or on a citywide scale.

With his paintings and sculptures, Artschwager continually questioned appearance and essence, venturing into the realms of ontology, epistemology, and aesthetics with wit and intelligence. His work offers a delicate and realistic, humorous yet monumental interpretation of the world.