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14/4/2005

William Anastasi

Stalke Gallery, Copenhagen

Anastasi is one of the founders of Conceptual Art with solid connections in his earliest works to Minimalism. His exhibits "Sound Objects", 1964-65 and "Six Sites", 1966/67, set the stage for exhibitions under the eventually widely used term 'Site Specific'. In the last four and a half decades this genre has developed into a veritable industry. Even before those two mold breaking exhibitions Anastasi had developed his signature innovation of the use of process in what he refers to as his "unsighted drawings". They were begun in 1963 and are ongoing in continually developing strategies. They are typically keyed to the body -- the pocket drawings and other stationary unsigted works, or to the space in which they were made -- Six Sites and Continuum. Of all the Conceptualists and Minimalists, Anastasi is virtually alone as one who, since the '60's, has consistently pushed the boundaries of the medium of drawing. His lead has been followed by many -- even to the adoption of specific genres he has invented.

The major focus of this exhibition will be Anastasi's drawings, but some of the prints made during his current residency will also be exhibited. The drawings will span a period from 1984 to the present, some made expressly for this showing. His practice embraces drawing as performance, the incorporation of chance, rigorous focus on the present and the body's relationship to their execution. These are some of the funda-mental themes of Minimalism and Conceptualism that were forged by these very inno- vations. Although he is a master his oeuvre is not limited to drawing. His sculpt-ures, paintings, photographs, videos, and films have, like his drawings, consistently helped to define these mediums. They have also contributed to the essential units of meaning of Minimalism and Conceptualism. As art Historian Thomas McEvilley has stated, Anastasi pioneered in the use of tautology, and one of the earliest to erase boundaries and embrace dematerialization. These are signature themes of both move-ments.

Underlying his practice is Anastasi's conviction that "the only interesting thing about taste is that it is always changing". His referencing of the body in each of his various drawing strategies is evident from the smallest to the largest works. This is accomplished by a rigorously reduced phenomenological approach where each gesture is tailored to its particular scale and method of execution. A series might begin by folding a paper small enough to fit into a tiny space -- the Pocket Drawings--or, in the case of the Subway or Bus Drawings, by placing a small sheet that fits comfortably on his lap while in transit. The viewer standing before these drawings senses the artist's presence during their execution.

Stalke has worked with William Anastasi for almost twenty years. We are especially pleased to present this exhibition at a stage in the artist's career when inter-national recognition is growing exponentially. His work is represented in the per-manent collections of every major American museum and a number of important European ones. He is also generously represented in the largest and most important private collection of contemporary drawings in the world as well as in many leading private collections of paintings and scupltures world wide. Currently two of his 1969 Pocket Drawings are showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as part of their exhibition "Drawings From The Modern, Part II, 1945-1975". These two works were acquired by the museum in 2004 at the same time that they acquired two larger conceptual pencil and ink drawings from 1989. The two Pocket Drawings from 1969 are reproduced in the book on MOMA's collection titled "Drawings From The Modern, 1945-1975" just published.

"William Anastasi: Works on Paper" at Stalke Gallery is the first in a series of three sequential solo European exhibitions. Opening April 30th to June 21st, Thomas Rehbein Gallery in Cologne will show early works from the '60's and '70's and June 4 ­ July 31st, Art Agents in Hamburg will show Blind, 1966/2005, in which every surface of the gallery's interior will have been camouflaged at Anastasi's direction by a small battalion of painters.

At 7 PM during the opening there will be a brief talk by the artist.

Stalke Galleri
Vesterbrogade 184
1620 Frederiksberg C Copenhagen-Denmark

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