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Art & LifeRichard Tuttle
Richard Tuttle discusses his philosophical relationship to art and life in his New Mexico studio.
More information and creditsCredits
Producer: Wesley Miller and Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera & Sound: Bob Elfstrom and Ray Day. Editor: Jenny Chiurco. Artwork Courtesy: Richard Tuttle.
Closed captions
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Even when considering his three-dimensional works, Richard Tuttle commonly refers to his art as drawing rather than sculpture—the distinction emphasizing the diminutive scale and idea-based nature of his work. Influenced by calligraphy, architecture, and poetry, he subverts the conventions of modernist sculptural practice by creating small, eccentrically playful objects in humble, fragile materials. Tuttle also manipulates the space in which his objects exist, placing them unnaturally high or oddly low on a wall—forcing viewers to reconsider and renegotiate the white-cube gallery space in relation to their own bodies.
“Both in the making and the critiquing [of art], there’s all of life. And there has to be all of life because if you don’t have all of life then how can you make anything that has some importance?”
Richard Tuttle
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Richard Tuttle
Richard Tuttle