The Inimitable Artschwager at Sprüth Magers Berlin

“Sculpture is for the touch, painting is for the eye. I wanted to make a sculpture for the eye and a painting for the touch.” —Richard Artschwager

Source

Richard Artschwager was known to playfully skip between mediums. Was he a painter? A draftsman? A cabinet maker-turned-sculptor whose workshop caught fire and compelled him to assemble the leftover materials? Yes to all of three. Although at times hard to define, by the time of his 2012 retrospective at the Whitney Museum and death shortly thereafter, Artschwager had solidly defined his significance in the 20th century of American art.

In conjunction with Gallery Weekend Berlin, a recent series of Artschwager’s portraits will be displayed alongside his orange Exclamation Point sculpture at Sprüth Magers Berlin, complementing the portraiture with his concurrent fascination with semiotic form.