Park update: On September 7, the Spur and High Line Connector at 30th Street will be closed. From September 8 – 9, the Spur, High Line Connector, and Coach Passage at 30th Street will be closed.
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Richard Artschwager
Blps
Various locations on and around the High Line
October 25, 2012 – February 3, 2013
High Line Art has partnered with the Whitney Museum of American Art to present a series of blps by acclaimed artist Richard Artschwager, in conjunction with the artist’s retrospective Richard Artschwager! at the Whitney. A group of blps have been installed in various locations on and around the High Line and are on view in tandem with the Whitney retrospective
Artschwager first created his blps – a word coined by the artist and pronounced “blips” – in the late 1960s. The blps were first installed at the University of California – Davis, then in Europe, and then throughout New York City, including on subways, building facades, and galleries. These public interventions consist of black or white lozenge-shaped marks that inspire focused looking, and draw attention to architecture, structures, and surfaces that usually go unnoticed. Artschwager’s blps have transformed art spaces and city streets for decades, creating an opportunity for the “useless looking” the artist has aspired to throughout his career.
As part of the retrospective at the Whitney, exhibition curator Jennifer Gross, in collaboration with High Line Art, has organized a project working with the artist that revisits this aspect of his practice. Artschwager has installed blps on and around the High Line, near the future downtown home of the Whitney Museum at the southern terminus of the High Line, at Gansevoort and Washington Streets, and the Whitney’s building uptown on Madison Avenue at East 75th Street. There, part of the exhibition reviews the history of the blp, including Artschwager’s 100 Locations, an installation of 100 blps that were placed around the Whitney Museum at the time of Artschwager’s appearance in the 1968 Whitney Annual Exhibition as well as other blp projects.
Photos by Austin Kennedy.
Artist bio
New York-based artist Richard Artschwager (b. 1923 Washington, D.C. – d. 2013, New York) had his first solo show in 1965 at Leo Castelli and appeared in the Primary Structures exhibition at the Jewish Museum in 1966. Select solo exhibitions include Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2013); Whitney Museum, New York (2012); Gagosian Gallery, Rome (2012); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2010); Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami (2003); Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2003); Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago (2002); MAK, Vienna (2002); Serpentine Gallery, London (2001); Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris (1994); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1992); Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (1979); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (1979); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1973). He began appearing in Whitney Annuals in 1966 and was shown in the 1968, 1970, and 1972 Annuals as well as the 1983 and 1987 Biennials. In 1988, the Whitney organized a mid-career retrospective of his work, which toured to numerous national and international venues including Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Palacio de Velasquez, Madrid; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Städtische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf.
Support
High Line Art is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art is made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr., with additional support from Vital Projects Fund, Inc. High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
This project is made possible by the Whitney Museum of American Art and High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line. Richard Artschwager! is organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in association with the Yale University Art Gallery. Support for the blp project is provided by 32BNY. Special thanks to project participants and Avenues: The World School, David Nolan Gallery, The Standard, 450 West 31st Owners Corp., and RD Wright.
