Over the past four decades, Richard Tuttle has thrown into question nearly every conceivable artistic convention and critical category to create an enormously inventive body of work—one that embraces and intermingles drawing, painting, collage, book making, sculpture and design. From his spare yet enigmatic forms of the 1960s to his complex, multifaceted assemblages and installations of more recent years, Tuttle’s primary impetus throughout has been to craft unique objects, using everyday, often ephemeral materials that demand to be confronted on their own terms. The relentless individuality of his aesthetic vision has earned him standing as one of the most provocative and influential artists of his day.
This richly illustrated and strikingly designed catalog, the most authoritative volume ever published on this prolific artist, presents nearly 400 reproductions of artworks from across his oeuvre and documentary photographs of his creative process. Essays by distinguished writers trace the arc of Tuttle’s career, addressing such topics as the philosophical underpinnings of his artistic method, his sensitive handling of diverse materials, his lifelong engagement with drawing and its expansion into three-dimensional space, his groundbreaking solo exhibitions and their critical reception, his complex play with the conventions of language, and his innovative artist’s books.

An example in print of Mies van der Rohe’s axiom “Less is more.”