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in methodical square-by-square sections so that there is an even deployment of details with equal attention for every section, regardless of hierarchical importance. (Artschwager has been aware of this dispersing effect for some time. The method has been adopted by several other artists for the same reason.) The pictures are always heavily framed in a wide grey metal border. Artschwager likes clearly defined areas rather than endless expanses. His concern for edges is obvious in the structures, which often pick up the frame motif, which was a provocative element in his earlier work. Most recently, he has combined the constructions with the paintings. For instance, on a dark-brown marbleized prism, a central facet is flanked by the two separated halves of a painting of a nude standing in a kitchen. One attempts repeatedly to re-establish the coherence of the image by mentally joining its two halves. Yet the marbleized swirls interfere and distract one, and also pick up some of the representational contours and carry them on by accident into random configurations. In pieces such as these, unease is deliberately created, and a war of contradictory premises takes place. On the other hand, the result is also surprisingly harmonious. The fact that such diversity can be combined points up the essential equivalence of both sides of his work. He is able to treat the painting like any other surface, by forcing the imagery to a deliberately neutral level, and by relying on the surface physicality of the technique. The no-color antinaturalism and arbitrary tonal gradations of the painted images help too. Artschwager's development owes much to the early moderns - he mentions Cézanne, Analytical Cubism with its subtle monochrome structures, the "found" textures of Cubist collage and Braque's extensive use of imitation wood grain; also Matisse, Léger, Miro. All of these were accessible to him in reproductions (he grew up in New Mexico). He particularly drew on Seurat - this is clear in his atomized uniformity of surface, emphasis of edges by contrasting local halos (he even tried this on a couple of his sculptures, earlier), and his precise pictorial structures. In the constructions this is more obliquely present, in many ways. His preoccupation with frames and borders also relates to Seurat. Artschwager arrived in New York in 1950, after nearly completing a degree in biology and chemistry at Cornell, and joined the painting classes of Amédée Ozenfant. This probably helped predispose him toward structure rather than Expressionism. He admired the major figures in New York painting of the time, but thought their work too personal to emulate. During the '50s, while continuing to paint, he supported himself by making furniture. The relevance of this to his present work, in terms of techniques and materials as well as invention of forms, is obvious. It was in the climate of thought around 1960 that he tentatively did his first wood constructions. This became a stronger factor by '62-'63. During those years, though Pop was on the upsurge, the current structural tendency was just forming; Judd had made slatted wooden boxes, Morris his wood column painted grey and his card file, Flavin had made a white box with a fluorescent tube, and all could be seen frequently at the Green Gallery. The amount of this activity was suddenly evident when the Los Angeles Dwan Gallery organized its box show. Artschwager saw this catalogue, and had a piece in the show himself. Rauschenberg, Johns (particularly his grey works), Bontecou are others he cites as important for him at the time. During 1962 he [[line]] MANE-KATZ THE OEUVRE CATALOGUE BY ROBERT ARIES IS NOW IN PREPARATION. PLEASE SEND PHOTOGRAPHS AND DETAILS TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING COLLABORATORS JACQUES O'HANA O'HANA GALLERY 13 CARLOS PLACE LONDONG W.1 ENGLAND or EDOUARD MAYER 36 AVENUE BOSQUET PARIS VII FRANCE JANUARY 1968 59
