Corner Piece

In 1966, Richard Artschwager made the first of a long series of sculptures that reproduce, in three-dimensions, punctuation marks borrowed from written language. Some are on a human scale, others are placed on pedestals and still others take the form of sculptural reliefs on the wall. Made from wood or Formica, an industrial material frequently used by the artist, they combine elements of Conceptual art, Minimalism, Surrealism and Pop. Artschwager selects signs associated with the emotional role of language. Humorous, and with a certain sensuality, they literally punctuate the exhibition space. Despite being transformed into physical objects that are totally removed from their original linguistic context, they have not lost their exclamatory power. In this way the artist turns the space into an anonymous voice that,somehow, implicates everyone.