I
When brought together,
These two bodies of work*
Will transform space.
The rules of one** are
Longitudinal, which we
Read on a vertical, the
Other,*** the opposite.
They also engage depth
Perception, one, through
Layering brings us in;**
The other, out.*** You
Could give each group
its separate room (place-
in-space). Now, it seems,
mixing them will erase
space, helping to see
each for what it is.
The exhibition, then,
Is a chance to see what
Will happen– though
Each work’s need
Is paramount. We
May try both ways to
Show, it doesn’t matter.
II
The three, 17th c., Dutch
Masters are Vermeer,
Rembrandt and Hals.
The first two paint you
Looking at the glass.
Hals paints the glass
Looking at you. Hals
Uses art to put you
Solidly in the world,
Giving you power,
Making you the subject,
Or, perhaps, more cor-
Rectly, your Psyche.
His paintings often
Leave one uncom-
Fortable, for they rely
On the truth of the
Viewer, who is divided
In the act of seeing a
Painting. The laughing
In Hals comes from
Seeing, the light in light
And darkness is the
Same light- as the viewer
Is left pondering Hals’s
Genius as a painter
Revealed — where did
It come from?
III
Coming home from a
Long walk in New Mexico,
Natural wilderness, I
Thought the painting I
Wanted was not depen-
Dent or independent
On its means of record-
Ing. We are composite
Creatures, not neces-
Sarily accessed planerly,
(Or not), so one could
Produce a painting that
Was first, a statement,
Then, creatively edited
And finally, presented,
Using its own “call to
Form” as a solution—
The whole would unify,
As painting is supposed
To do, and make a pic-
Ture closer to love, truth,
Freedom. I worked like
This for some time, both
In New Mexico and New
York. Where as the results
Bore looking, something
Was wrong… Like music,
The purely visual has
An ability to express, uni-
Que to itself. Thus, be-
Lieving the picture was
Good, justifiable, proven,
But not available, I went
On, seeking an explanation.
The two groups at Stuart
Shave’s**** are the result-
If we have the eyes to
See them? No matter.
If valuable an advance,
We will develop the eyes.
If not, is it not just one more
Try on humanity’s stage
left to the offices of wor-
thy tries and discarded?
*”Pressing: Hole in the Head”
“Releasing: Biologically Poor
Endings”
**”Pressing: Hole in the Head”
***”Releasing: Biologically
Poor Endings”
****Modern Art
Richard Tuttle, NYC, 2017.
My Birthday Puzzle is Richard Tuttle’s fourth solo exhibition with Modern Art, for which he has made two new bodies of work.
Richard Tuttle’s work has been the subject of more than two hundred solo exhibitions over the past fifty years. He held his first solo show in New York at Betty Parsons Gallery in 1965, and in 1975 was granted a ten-year survey exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Richard Tuttle’s work was included in the Venice Biennale in 1976, 1997 and 2001, Documenta in 1972, 1977 and 1982, and the Whitney Biennial of American Art in 1977, 1987 and 2000.
In London in 2014, Richard Tuttle undertook the Turbine Hall commission for Tate Modern, I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language, which coincided with the retrospective solo exhibition The Weave of Textile Language at the Whitechapel Gallery. The survey exhibition The Art of Richard Tuttle was organised by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA, in 2005, from where it travelled to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA, Dallas Museum of Art, USA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA, through 2007.
Recent solo exhibitions include al Cielo de Noche de Lima / to The Night Sky of Lima, Proyecto AMIL and Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Lima, Peru (2016); The Critical Edge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA (2016); Καλλίρροος kallirroos schön-fliessend, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (2016); Richard Tuttle: Wire Pieces, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis, MO, USA (2015); Both/And Richard Tuttle Print and Cloth, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA (2015); Slide, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2012); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2012); Hello, The Roses, with Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Kunstverein Munich, Germany (2012); Triumphs, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Ireland (2010 – 2011); The Use of Time, Kunsthaus Zug, Switzerland (2008); Wire Pieces, CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France (2005); It’s a Room for 3 People, Drawing Center, New York, USA, travelled to Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA (2004 – 2006); Perceived Obstacles, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany, travelled to Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Munster, Germany, and Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (2000 – 2001).
My Birthday Puzzle will coincide with an exhibition of Richard Tuttle’s recent work entitled The Critical Edge at Pace London, which will run from 13 April until 13 May. Tuttle’s work is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at De Hallen Haarlem, Haarlem, Netherlands, until 7 May 2017, and the forthcoming solo exhibition Richard Tuttle, James Ensor’s ‘real’ color at Mu.ZEE, Kunstmuseum aan zee, Ostend, Belgium, 1 July — 5 November 2017.
For further information, please contact Modern Art