Carl Andre

More than twenty sculptures, small and medium sized works that date from the end of the 1950s to the present, from public and private collections, were presented on the ground floor and fourth floor of Museion. Among his famous large scale installations, the exhibition presents Wirbelsäule (spinal column), created in Basel in 1984 and rarely exhibited, which will be on display in the public area in front of the museum.

“Rather than cutting into the material, I now use the material as the cut in space” – the artist’s statement sums up the turning point of 1959, when he stopped sculpting and in so doing revolutionised the very concept of sculpture. The artist rejects the idea of having to hew and shape material, or attach the various components of a work by gluing or welding; his sculptures are simple shapes created by combining elementary geometrical units.

Be it steel, copper, aluminium, sandstone, breeze blocks or graphite, Andre uses materials without manipulating them in any way, maintaining their original size and characteristics, whatever their industrial or artisanal origin. His works are characterised by a sense of material bulk; they do not have a narrative aim or allude to anything, but merely present themselves as objects.

Art as a physical fact, that does not claim to be anything else. Carl Andre’s sculptures are not objects to look at, but a place to interact with, to move around and experience. His art is not visually arresting and can even pass unnoticed, despite forging a fundamental connection with its setting.