THE ART OF RICHARD TUTTLE

March 17 – June 11, 2006

Since the mid-1960s, when Richard Tuttle first emerged as an artist, he has been an essential participant in the groundbreaking developments of contemporary art. Purposefully blurring the usual boundaries separating drawing, sculpture, and painting, Tuttle seeks to create a new artistic category of truly singular objects whose specific yet enigmatic character strikes the viewer as utterly unique. Using nontraditional materials and adopting direct and improvisational art-making processes, he was among the most influential of the first-generation Postminimalists. His work has continued to innovate and inspire as he has evolved with, but always operated somewhat outside of, the canon of European and American art.

The Art of Richard Tuttle is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, Mimi and Peter Haas, the Edward E. Hills Fund, Helen and Charles Schwab, and Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro. Additional support has been provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Shirley Ross Sullivan and Charles Sullivan, the Irving Stenn Family, the Kadima Foundation, the Frances R. Dittmer Family Foundation, Jeanne and Michael Klein, Tim Nye and the MAT Charitable Foundation, Craig Robbins, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Sperone Westwater, Joseph Holtzman, and Emily Rauh Pulitzer. Support for the catalogue has been provided by Anthony and Celeste Meier, the Neisser Family Fund, and Marion Boulton Stroud.

Support for the Des Moines presentation of The Art of Richard Tuttle is provided by The Principal Financial Group Foundation, Inc., and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. In-kind media support is provided by The Des Moines Register.

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EXHIBITION RELATED EVENTS
The Art of Richard Tuttle

Opening Reception
Thursday, March 16, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Conversations On Art
Wednesday, March 15, 7pm, Levitt Auditorium
Richard Tuttle with Madeleine Grynsztejn, Elise S. Haas senior curator of painting and sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Patricia Hickson, curator and gallery manager.

In a July 10, 2005 article for Time magazine, Richard Lacayo wrote, “Everything Tuttle does seems to be asking the same questions: What’s the smallest thing you can do in a picture or with an object and still lift it out of the realm of the ordinary? What’s the smallest conceptual pressure that can be brought to bear on something and still have it qualify as art?” Tuttle has been experimenting with these questions and blurring the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and drawing for more than 40 years. Join us as Grynsztejn discusses the exhibition, Hickson comments on Tuttle's contributions to contemporar art, and the artist offers insight into his creative vision.

This event is sold out. However, the Art Center may have vacant seats to release moments prior to the event. Unticketed guests are invited to place their name on a will-call list beginning at 6:30 pm the evening of the event.

Media support provided by cityview.

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Lecture
Wednesday, April 5, 7 pm, Levitt Auditorium
Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life
Kathan Brown, founder/director, Crown Point Press

Brown is the founder and director of San Francisco’s Crown Point Press, a leading printmaking workshop specializing in etching and woodcut. This presentation will include a discussion of Brown’s collaborations with artists, especially with Richard Tuttle.

This talk is sponsored by Print Club.

Free Classes
The Art of Richard Tuttle
(two sessions will be offered; participants should register for one)

Thursday, March 30, 7 – 9 pm
Jeff Fleming, director; Lenore Metrick-Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history, Drake University; and Phillip Chen, associate professor of art, Drake University

Sunday, April 9, 1 – 3 pm
Patricia Hickson, curator/downtown gallery manager, and Maura Lyons, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history, Drake University

Registration is required for these free classes. Contact Janet Weeden at 515.271.0306. (Limit 20 people per session)

Richard Tuttle’s work pushes the limits of many peoples’ ideas about art. As such, this program is designed to foster a discussion on this much-debated subject.

Gallery Talk
Thursday, April 27, 7 pm
Patricia Hickson, curator and downtown gallery manager

Delightfully fresh to some, frustratingly elusive to others, Tuttle’s art elicits many varied responses. During this talk, Hickson will offer her insight into this exhibition and welcome questions from the audience.

Resource Area

Richard Tuttle: Never Not an Artist, 2005
Chris Maybach, director
32 minutes, not rated (suitable for all ages; on view for duration of the exhibition)

Richard Tuttle’s work “flirts on the edge of nothingness,” according to chief curator of drawings at MOMA, Cornelia Butler, in this sensitive and illuminating film about the artist.

Computer Interactive
Tuttle: The Presence of Simple Things
Created by the Interactive Educational Technologies Department at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (duration of the exhibition)

This multimedia learning tool is a dynamic resource for furthering one’s appreciation of the artwork, the artist, and the art historical significance of Richard Tuttle’s work.

Guided Tours
Learn something new and have fun, too! Take a tour of any exhibition or the Art Center’s renowned permanent collections. We can accommodate groups from two to 100 people. It’s a perfect activity for a family, work team, or social group. Please schedule at least three weeks in advance. Contact Jennifer Cooley at 515.271.0328 or jcooley@desmoinesartcenter.org.

Adult Group Tours: $2 per person/$20 minimum fee
Student Tours: Free