See, touch, and ponder 75 objects from Richard Tuttle’s personal holdings next spring at New York’s Bard Graduate Center Gallery. The show, titled “Richard Tuttle: What is the Object?”, is co-curated by Tuttle and is among the first dedicated to the curiosities accumulated by the American post-Minimalist over six decades. The show opens on February 25 and runs through July 10, 2022.
Swatches of vintage fabric, ceramic teacups, and sculptural furniture will be available to handle (also on display will be furniture designed by Tuttle specifically for the exhibition). Each work is accompanied by an index card detailing its biography, and includes Tuttle’s first encounter with the respective piece, along with why it entered his collection. The show aims to draw connections between the objects, which range from the mundane to the ephemeral and bizarre, and his equally expansive art practice.
Over the course of his career, Tuttle has occupied the space between genres. He has created minimal watercolors, plywood wall sculptures, artist books, and installations, among others, all united by an attention to color, form, and physicality. Throughout, he celebrates the tangible intimacy of each object.
Much of Tuttle’s work is small and embraces a homemade aesthetic, incorporating materials such as dyed cloth, styrofoam, and hot glue. He often engages the entirety of the gallery, especially the marginal or overlooked spaces, corners, floors, and doorframes.
According to the press materials, visitors are encouraged to assign their own meaning to the eclectic display. They’re also asked to consider the exhibition not as isolated pieces, but as a whole new artwork conceived by Tuttle. The impression being that in doing so, one can find new answers to the question, “what is an object?”