Primary Atmospheres

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P R I M A R Y

A T M O S P H E R E S

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P R I M A R Y

A T M O S P H E R E S W O R K S F R O M C A L I F O R N I A 1960 –1970

Steidl / David Zwirner

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P R I M A R Y

A T M O S P H E R E S W O R K S F R O M C A L I F O R N I A 1960 –1970

Steidl / David Zwirner

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PETER ALEXANDER LARRY BELL LADDIE JOHN DILL ROBERT IRWIN CRAIG KAUFFMAN JOHN McCRACKEN H E L E N PA S H G I A N JAMES TURRELL D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E DOUG WHEELER

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PETER ALEXANDER LARRY BELL LADDIE JOHN DILL ROBERT IRWIN CRAIG KAUFFMAN JOHN McCRACKEN H E L E N PA S H G I A N JAMES TURRELL D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E DOUG WHEELER

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P R I M A R Y AT M O S P H E R E S

THE WORKS IN THIS EXHIBI TION were my first toys as a young

by D A V E H I C K E Y

critic, and they remain talismans of the mystery for me. In the shorthand of the art world, they are usually referred to as “Light and Space art,” or “Fetish Finish art,” or, more generally, “California Minimalism.” The terms don’t mean much now, but the work is still fresh. Coming upon an aggregation of these works, cloistered in their enduring fragility, amid the chilly, industrial juggernauts of Manhattan, they feel more alien than ancient. They still bear the aura of their formal intentions, but they have changed. Works once decried as scandalously decorative now seem as suave as the most conservative couture.

Objects once dismissed as the product of provincial mindlessness now manifest evidence of the most delicate ratiocination. Most interestingly, the filigree of regional, cultural, and art historical circumstance that informed the creation, reception, and consequences of this work is more visible now, and more available.

The overwhelming, vivifying circumstance upon which this work was founded is the status and light and space in the American Southwest as a benign presence rather than a stark absence.

7

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P R I M A R Y AT M O S P H E R E S

THE WORKS IN THIS EXHIBI TION were my first toys as a young

by D A V E H I C K E Y

critic, and they remain talismans of the mystery for me. In the shorthand of the art world, they are usually referred to as “Light and Space art,” or “Fetish Finish art,” or, more generally, “California Minimalism.” The terms don’t mean much now, but the work is still fresh. Coming upon an aggregation of these works, cloistered in their enduring fragility, amid the chilly, industrial juggernauts of Manhattan, they feel more alien than ancient. They still bear the aura of their formal intentions, but they have changed. Works once decried as scandalously decorative now seem as suave as the most conservative couture.

Objects once dismissed as the product of provincial mindlessness now manifest evidence of the most delicate ratiocination. Most interestingly, the filigree of regional, cultural, and art historical circumstance that informed the creation, reception, and consequences of this work is more visible now, and more available.

The overwhelming, vivifying circumstance upon which this work was founded is the status and light and space in the American Southwest as a benign presence rather than a stark absence.

7

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This is not a world-shaking phenomenon, I know, but if you have

beach sand, and a squad of intervening sheets of plate glass.

been raised in the West, you miss it when it’s gone. You miss that

Dill’s piece simultaneously manifests the multiform properties of

sense of the earth as the bottom of the sky, the sense of stand-

silica and the soft spectrum of visibility between them as it

ing in the world, not on it, more embraced than assaulted. The

moves from luminosity to transparency to translucency to reflec-

source of this illusion is geographical. Unlike the Northeast

tivity to opaque glow—granular, sleek, atmospheric, and invisible.

where light from the sky is absorbed by the arboreal landscape, creating the illusion of volume and vacuum, the light that strikes the deserts of the West and their adjacent ocean bounces back up. The particulate desert and the ocean that pervades this atmosphere is illuminated from above and below, presenting itself to our eyes as a palpable presence. In the West, as James Turrell so aptly demonstrates, light is a thing, a local truth, and not some heavenly benison or assault.

Dill’s piece provides an apt demonstration of what one might call the old school Los Angeles state of mind — an attitude that derives from the city’s status as what economists call a “gap city,” one whose culture and industry flourishes in zones that predate and postdate industrial modernity, a city that runs on the manufacture of streamlined weapons, fanciful narratives, fashionable clothing, decorative gardening, and sculptural architecture. As a consequence, like the California culture that

The consequence of living in this full world, in a world without

nurtured it, West Coast Minimalism is intrinsically concerned

emptiness, is that everything that divides anything from anything

with chemistry, with the slippery, unstable vernacular of oxygen,

else seems to exist on the verge of dissolution or liquefaction.

neon, argon, resin, lacquer, acrylic, fiberglass, glass, graphite,

The object and its atmosphere, the mind and the body, the self

chrome, sand, water, and active human hormones. This is a

and the other all flutter, fade, and intermingle at the edges. All

world that floats, flashes, coats, and teases.

surfaces seduce themselves. Even the most modest adobe wall bears the mark of its liquid source and its particulate destination.

In this exhibition, there is hardly a surface that delivers itself to us as the exterior of the object it encloses, except perhaps for Larry Bell’s boxed vacuums which bear with them the inference that hard core “nothingness” is only available to us when it is exotically isolated. All these surfaces, however, even Bell’s, deliver back to us the space in which we stand, surreally enhanced with yet more light and more space deployed along a blended atmospheric spectrum. Laddie John Dill’s untitled work in this exhibition is composed of mercury and argon gas, a multi-stratum pour of

8

So, if East Coast Minimalism speaks the language of construction, West Coast Minimalism is more like cooking — and gourmet cooking at that. The artists who make this work, like great chefs everywhere, are necessarily concerned with appetizing presentation: these days one might be served at Lutece in Las Vegas something that looks like Laddie John Dill’s dune or Craig Kauffman’s bubble, presented under a glass vitrine on a china plate.

But this is no critique, because presentation is just a grace note, an invitation. The recipe is everything in this art. The external surfaces, which are usually dissolving before our eyes, are of no more consequence than cake pans or aspic molds. Form is not

9

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This is not a world-shaking phenomenon, I know, but if you have

beach sand, and a squad of intervening sheets of plate glass.

been raised in the West, you miss it when it’s gone. You miss that

Dill’s piece simultaneously manifests the multiform properties of

sense of the earth as the bottom of the sky, the sense of stand-

silica and the soft spectrum of visibility between them as it

ing in the world, not on it, more embraced than assaulted. The

moves from luminosity to transparency to translucency to reflec-

source of this illusion is geographical. Unlike the Northeast

tivity to opaque glow—granular, sleek, atmospheric, and invisible.

where light from the sky is absorbed by the arboreal landscape, creating the illusion of volume and vacuum, the light that strikes the deserts of the West and their adjacent ocean bounces back up. The particulate desert and the ocean that pervades this atmosphere is illuminated from above and below, presenting itself to our eyes as a palpable presence. In the West, as James Turrell so aptly demonstrates, light is a thing, a local truth, and not some heavenly benison or assault.

Dill’s piece provides an apt demonstration of what one might call the old school Los Angeles state of mind — an attitude that derives from the city’s status as what economists call a “gap city,” one whose culture and industry flourishes in zones that predate and postdate industrial modernity, a city that runs on the manufacture of streamlined weapons, fanciful narratives, fashionable clothing, decorative gardening, and sculptural architecture. As a consequence, like the California culture that

The consequence of living in this full world, in a world without

nurtured it, West Coast Minimalism is intrinsically concerned

emptiness, is that everything that divides anything from anything

with chemistry, with the slippery, unstable vernacular of oxygen,

else seems to exist on the verge of dissolution or liquefaction.

neon, argon, resin, lacquer, acrylic, fiberglass, glass, graphite,

The object and its atmosphere, the mind and the body, the self

chrome, sand, water, and active human hormones. This is a

and the other all flutter, fade, and intermingle at the edges. All

world that floats, flashes, coats, and teases.

surfaces seduce themselves. Even the most modest adobe wall bears the mark of its liquid source and its particulate destination.

In this exhibition, there is hardly a surface that delivers itself to us as the exterior of the object it encloses, except perhaps for Larry Bell’s boxed vacuums which bear with them the inference that hard core “nothingness” is only available to us when it is exotically isolated. All these surfaces, however, even Bell’s, deliver back to us the space in which we stand, surreally enhanced with yet more light and more space deployed along a blended atmospheric spectrum. Laddie John Dill’s untitled work in this exhibition is composed of mercury and argon gas, a multi-stratum pour of

8

So, if East Coast Minimalism speaks the language of construction, West Coast Minimalism is more like cooking — and gourmet cooking at that. The artists who make this work, like great chefs everywhere, are necessarily concerned with appetizing presentation: these days one might be served at Lutece in Las Vegas something that looks like Laddie John Dill’s dune or Craig Kauffman’s bubble, presented under a glass vitrine on a china plate.

But this is no critique, because presentation is just a grace note, an invitation. The recipe is everything in this art. The external surfaces, which are usually dissolving before our eyes, are of no more consequence than cake pans or aspic molds. Form is not

9

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an issue; the visual conflagration of solids, liquids, and gases

wedges exactly approximate the ascending translucency of a ris-

morphing into one another, most certainly is.

ing wave as experienced by a surfer in the curl.

—

All this flutter, however, only means that the work has a home.

The best argument for the irrelevance of “form” in this art, I think, derives from the casual availability of the “found phenomena” these artists accumulate and exploit — as New York artists gather fugitive images and London artists accumulate interesting trash. As a result, in my experience, there is nothing in this show whose exotic effect wouldn’t flash by your window on a short drive down Lincoln Boulevard, if one could but extract the diamonds from the dreck. The boxes, slabs, squares, piles, poles, lights, surfaces, and slashes of shadow are redolent with allusion, but these only site the work. If the forms mean anything in this work, they mean Los Angeles, as Sol LeWitt’s white skyscrapers and Richard Serra’s slabs mean New York, and these associations are comparably trivial.

It is true enough, of course, that Robert Irwin’s poles evoke the vertical interstices of palm trunks; that Larry Bell, Doug Wheeler, and Laddie John Dill have all tried their hand at shelving and enhanced chair rails; that John McCracken’s planks testify to a city under perpetual construction; that Mary Corse appropriates the blaze of urban signage; and that Doug Wheeler does indeed translate the language of neon in the fog. James Turrell (like John Singer Sargent in another Venice) appropriates the daunting shapes and shadows created by shrouded sunlight burning in over the water. De Wain Valentine, Craig Kauffman, and Helen Pashgian all make off with glamorous, technological attributes of the contemporary automobile. Peter Alexander’s tall

10

If the atmospheric rhymes that pervade this work are mistaken for pictorial representations, or abstractions of pictorial representations, as they often were in the early criticism of this work, the beholder is looking at something that’s just not there, that cannot in fact be seen. Even more to the point, unlike the bulk of East Coast Minimalism, this work is not furniture. Surrounded as it was by Eames design and Case Study houses, this work is best perceived as a flight from function. Consequently, to worry about what these works might “look like” or possibly “do” is like trying to see the ocean in a woozy Bridget Riley while overlooking the rich phenomenal garden whose efflorescence the artist has isolated and refined for us.

The art historical circumstances that inform the creation of this art derive, in my view, from a single fact. New York and California were much farther apart in this period than they are today. The inhabitants of these metropoli were virtually ignorant of one another as places and cultures, and the gradual collapse of this division (caused by this art) had interesting consequences.

Before this moment, art culture in New York was just the American art culture of dark bars, white rooms, and guys in paint-spattered pants. When Los Angeles arose as a locus of comparison, however, differences were exacerbated. So the New York art world in the seventies would claim to be as tough and puritanical as the West Coast was presumed hedonistic — at least until artists of New York and Los Angeles began stealing from one another—and that was that.

11

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an issue; the visual conflagration of solids, liquids, and gases

wedges exactly approximate the ascending translucency of a ris-

morphing into one another, most certainly is.

ing wave as experienced by a surfer in the curl.

—

All this flutter, however, only means that the work has a home.

The best argument for the irrelevance of “form” in this art, I think, derives from the casual availability of the “found phenomena” these artists accumulate and exploit — as New York artists gather fugitive images and London artists accumulate interesting trash. As a result, in my experience, there is nothing in this show whose exotic effect wouldn’t flash by your window on a short drive down Lincoln Boulevard, if one could but extract the diamonds from the dreck. The boxes, slabs, squares, piles, poles, lights, surfaces, and slashes of shadow are redolent with allusion, but these only site the work. If the forms mean anything in this work, they mean Los Angeles, as Sol LeWitt’s white skyscrapers and Richard Serra’s slabs mean New York, and these associations are comparably trivial.

It is true enough, of course, that Robert Irwin’s poles evoke the vertical interstices of palm trunks; that Larry Bell, Doug Wheeler, and Laddie John Dill have all tried their hand at shelving and enhanced chair rails; that John McCracken’s planks testify to a city under perpetual construction; that Mary Corse appropriates the blaze of urban signage; and that Doug Wheeler does indeed translate the language of neon in the fog. James Turrell (like John Singer Sargent in another Venice) appropriates the daunting shapes and shadows created by shrouded sunlight burning in over the water. De Wain Valentine, Craig Kauffman, and Helen Pashgian all make off with glamorous, technological attributes of the contemporary automobile. Peter Alexander’s tall

10

If the atmospheric rhymes that pervade this work are mistaken for pictorial representations, or abstractions of pictorial representations, as they often were in the early criticism of this work, the beholder is looking at something that’s just not there, that cannot in fact be seen. Even more to the point, unlike the bulk of East Coast Minimalism, this work is not furniture. Surrounded as it was by Eames design and Case Study houses, this work is best perceived as a flight from function. Consequently, to worry about what these works might “look like” or possibly “do” is like trying to see the ocean in a woozy Bridget Riley while overlooking the rich phenomenal garden whose efflorescence the artist has isolated and refined for us.

The art historical circumstances that inform the creation of this art derive, in my view, from a single fact. New York and California were much farther apart in this period than they are today. The inhabitants of these metropoli were virtually ignorant of one another as places and cultures, and the gradual collapse of this division (caused by this art) had interesting consequences.

Before this moment, art culture in New York was just the American art culture of dark bars, white rooms, and guys in paint-spattered pants. When Los Angeles arose as a locus of comparison, however, differences were exacerbated. So the New York art world in the seventies would claim to be as tough and puritanical as the West Coast was presumed hedonistic — at least until artists of New York and Los Angeles began stealing from one another—and that was that.

11

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Early on, however, influence was communicated between the

Mulligan, and Chet Baker. The hard-edge project of West Coast

coasts as if by smoke signal. Works of art moved between the

painters like John McLaughlin and Frederick Hammersley, in its

coasts at much greater danger and expense, so the less “stuff”

serene rigor, was appropriated and given a technological upgrade.

you shipped the better, and nothing shipped was better than that (Robert Irwin’s scrims). Also, from a mercantile perspective, this work was coming into being in the twilight of the greatest painting market for the largest paintings since the sixteenth century.

All the walls were full, and conventional wisdom in both Venice and Soho held that “the floor is the new wall”—with this California corollary that “space is the new plane.” So light and space in the West were regarded as practical, proprietary, mercantile, and aesthetic virtues. The aspiration was to efficiently exploit light and space in situ, by exacerbating their attributes.

And all this seemed to transpire quite naturally, almost invisibly, and the ambience of this scene was so thick, eccentric, and pervasive that the artists who worked in it and out of it could hardly begin to glimpse its cultural implications. As one of them told me, “All we knew was that it felt new. It felt clear, and it made you feel incredibly arrogant just being in on it.” Similarly, in the late sixties, at the far end of California Minimalism’s halcyon moment, the practice would dissolve quite naturally into the dishabille of Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, and Keith Sonnier. The rise of these artists is usually

The simplest way to situate this art culturally, then, is to take an

regarded as the great flowering of post-industrial art, so I should

option that is rarely exploited and look at East Coast Minimalism

point out here that in post-Minimalism’s founding moment, the

from the West. If we do, it is immediately obvious that East Coast

work of Laddie John Dill and Robert Smithson, of John McCracken

Minimalism is not an historical art. It is neither coming nor

and Richard Serra differed only in their defunct ideologies and

going, but rather exists in stasis as an occasional, imperial prac-

the demands of local taste. The rise of post-modernism, or

tice—the very embodiment of Pax Americana. Donald Judd and

post-Minimalism, or post-industrialism, or whatever the hell it

Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt drew from a quiver of preconceived

was that rose, seems less catastrophic when viewed from the

maneuvers and applied them to the sites and occasions that pre-

West than it does when abutted with the work of an ideological

sented themselves, so the Augustan autonomy of this art was set

striver like Robert Morris. The change seems more like an

in stone. To progress was to transgress. West Coast Minimalism,

interesting, anxious swerve of the paradigm through which the

by comparison, has a softer, more indistinct historical flow; it

object dissolves into a phenomenal occasion without being

arises from the atmospherics of mid-century modernism in

degraded in its objecthood.

Southern California, from the footprint of the freeways, the streamlined products of George Barris and Harley Earl, from the insouciance of Charles and Ray Eames, Rudolph Schindler, and Richard Neutra, and the serpentine guile of Miles Davis, Gerry

12

Looking from the West, then, East Coast Minimalism presents itself as a handsome terminal eulogy for the romance of industrial modernism. The underlying assumption is that if you strip the skin from any structure, you reveal another, more primary

13

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Early on, however, influence was communicated between the

Mulligan, and Chet Baker. The hard-edge project of West Coast

coasts as if by smoke signal. Works of art moved between the

painters like John McLaughlin and Frederick Hammersley, in its

coasts at much greater danger and expense, so the less “stuff”

serene rigor, was appropriated and given a technological upgrade.

you shipped the better, and nothing shipped was better than that (Robert Irwin’s scrims). Also, from a mercantile perspective, this work was coming into being in the twilight of the greatest painting market for the largest paintings since the sixteenth century.

All the walls were full, and conventional wisdom in both Venice and Soho held that “the floor is the new wall”—with this California corollary that “space is the new plane.” So light and space in the West were regarded as practical, proprietary, mercantile, and aesthetic virtues. The aspiration was to efficiently exploit light and space in situ, by exacerbating their attributes.

And all this seemed to transpire quite naturally, almost invisibly, and the ambience of this scene was so thick, eccentric, and pervasive that the artists who worked in it and out of it could hardly begin to glimpse its cultural implications. As one of them told me, “All we knew was that it felt new. It felt clear, and it made you feel incredibly arrogant just being in on it.” Similarly, in the late sixties, at the far end of California Minimalism’s halcyon moment, the practice would dissolve quite naturally into the dishabille of Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, and Keith Sonnier. The rise of these artists is usually

The simplest way to situate this art culturally, then, is to take an

regarded as the great flowering of post-industrial art, so I should

option that is rarely exploited and look at East Coast Minimalism

point out here that in post-Minimalism’s founding moment, the

from the West. If we do, it is immediately obvious that East Coast

work of Laddie John Dill and Robert Smithson, of John McCracken

Minimalism is not an historical art. It is neither coming nor

and Richard Serra differed only in their defunct ideologies and

going, but rather exists in stasis as an occasional, imperial prac-

the demands of local taste. The rise of post-modernism, or

tice—the very embodiment of Pax Americana. Donald Judd and

post-Minimalism, or post-industrialism, or whatever the hell it

Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt drew from a quiver of preconceived

was that rose, seems less catastrophic when viewed from the

maneuvers and applied them to the sites and occasions that pre-

West than it does when abutted with the work of an ideological

sented themselves, so the Augustan autonomy of this art was set

striver like Robert Morris. The change seems more like an

in stone. To progress was to transgress. West Coast Minimalism,

interesting, anxious swerve of the paradigm through which the

by comparison, has a softer, more indistinct historical flow; it

object dissolves into a phenomenal occasion without being

arises from the atmospherics of mid-century modernism in

degraded in its objecthood.

Southern California, from the footprint of the freeways, the streamlined products of George Barris and Harley Earl, from the insouciance of Charles and Ray Eames, Rudolph Schindler, and Richard Neutra, and the serpentine guile of Miles Davis, Gerry

12

Looking from the West, then, East Coast Minimalism presents itself as a handsome terminal eulogy for the romance of industrial modernism. The underlying assumption is that if you strip the skin from any structure, you reveal another, more primary

13

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structure. In the West, if you strip the skin off any structure, you

nal fault. All it means is that in the kingdom of entropy you bring

reveal another skin, and another below that. And if this seems a

your bucket with you, and you want the most elegant bucket you

hard sell, imagine the city of Los Angeles as it presented itself to

can imagine because, even though the object was largely dis-

Raymond Chandler, who aspired to capture its essence. To Chan-

credited at this critical moment, there is no persuasive reason

dler, the Englishman, the city was a collection of detritus, a tidal

that these discredited objects should be ugly or insist upon their

pool of human and cultural oddments accumulated according to

obsolescence like a school child reciting Nietzsche rote. One

no more rational principle than the tides and the prevailing winds.

soon began to wonder just how often a point need be proven.

So how does one address this human cauldron? Traditional aes-

So, finally, having already alluded to this work in terms of couture

thetics routinely demand some meaningful relationship between

and cuisine, I should speak about its elegance, because this is

form and content, but liquids, however heterogeneous, take the

elegant work and this attribute was as astonishing in its moment

form of their enclosure. So Chandler took the next best option

as it seems today. In its initial vogue, these works of art spoke

for his subject. The connectedness of formlessness is Chandler’s

directly to a new kind of artistic decorum—less aggressive than

content, so he invented the L.A. private-eye narrative as a spit

Pop, less disheveled than Abstract Expressionism, less ideological

around which Los Angeles might seem to revolve — a loosely

than Minimalism, and less maidenly than post-painterly

woven web of occasions and confrontations, revelations and

abstraction. It had a kind of gallantry—the cool courtesy of a

unfoldings that runs like a biodegradable armature through the

well-born rake. In a moment when Clement Greenberg was advo-

tidal pool. The subject of Chandler’s books is the wonder of fully

cating febrile sensibility and Michael Fried was demanding that

functioning entropy, the exoticism and the banality of the chaos

works of art ignore our presence, California Minimalism created

through which Philip Marlowe slides undaunted on his quests.

a gracious social space in its glow and reflection; it treated us

The actual narrative of what happens and what happens next is

amicably and made us even more beautiful by gathering us into

no more relevant than the plot of Don Quixote, or Larry Bell’s

the dance. It still does this today, so I am not amazed by the

cubes, or Craig Kauffman’s bubbles, or John McCracken’s

renewed interest in this work. I am still amazed, however, that

planks. They tell the story, but the story itself is a totally artificial

my beach-bum pals could have created such a capacious and

container for the primary atmospheres that constitute the actual

courtly art, although beach bums, I suppose, have dreams like

subject matter of the work.

everyone else.

Unsurprisingly, then, the indispensible abyss between form and content in California Minimalism and in Raymond Chandler’s books has left them open to criticism from formalist critics who find the artifice of the plot or enclosure, in its necessity, a termi-

14

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structure. In the West, if you strip the skin off any structure, you

nal fault. All it means is that in the kingdom of entropy you bring

reveal another skin, and another below that. And if this seems a

your bucket with you, and you want the most elegant bucket you

hard sell, imagine the city of Los Angeles as it presented itself to

can imagine because, even though the object was largely dis-

Raymond Chandler, who aspired to capture its essence. To Chan-

credited at this critical moment, there is no persuasive reason

dler, the Englishman, the city was a collection of detritus, a tidal

that these discredited objects should be ugly or insist upon their

pool of human and cultural oddments accumulated according to

obsolescence like a school child reciting Nietzsche rote. One

no more rational principle than the tides and the prevailing winds.

soon began to wonder just how often a point need be proven.

So how does one address this human cauldron? Traditional aes-

So, finally, having already alluded to this work in terms of couture

thetics routinely demand some meaningful relationship between

and cuisine, I should speak about its elegance, because this is

form and content, but liquids, however heterogeneous, take the

elegant work and this attribute was as astonishing in its moment

form of their enclosure. So Chandler took the next best option

as it seems today. In its initial vogue, these works of art spoke

for his subject. The connectedness of formlessness is Chandler’s

directly to a new kind of artistic decorum—less aggressive than

content, so he invented the L.A. private-eye narrative as a spit

Pop, less disheveled than Abstract Expressionism, less ideological

around which Los Angeles might seem to revolve — a loosely

than Minimalism, and less maidenly than post-painterly

woven web of occasions and confrontations, revelations and

abstraction. It had a kind of gallantry—the cool courtesy of a

unfoldings that runs like a biodegradable armature through the

well-born rake. In a moment when Clement Greenberg was advo-

tidal pool. The subject of Chandler’s books is the wonder of fully

cating febrile sensibility and Michael Fried was demanding that

functioning entropy, the exoticism and the banality of the chaos

works of art ignore our presence, California Minimalism created

through which Philip Marlowe slides undaunted on his quests.

a gracious social space in its glow and reflection; it treated us

The actual narrative of what happens and what happens next is

amicably and made us even more beautiful by gathering us into

no more relevant than the plot of Don Quixote, or Larry Bell’s

the dance. It still does this today, so I am not amazed by the

cubes, or Craig Kauffman’s bubbles, or John McCracken’s

renewed interest in this work. I am still amazed, however, that

planks. They tell the story, but the story itself is a totally artificial

my beach-bum pals could have created such a capacious and

container for the primary atmospheres that constitute the actual

courtly art, although beach bums, I suppose, have dreams like

subject matter of the work.

everyone else.

Unsurprisingly, then, the indispensible abyss between form and content in California Minimalism and in Raymond Chandler’s books has left them open to criticism from formalist critics who find the artifice of the plot or enclosure, in its necessity, a termi-

14

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P L A T E S

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P L A T E S

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled (A cr y lic Column), 1 970–71 Acrylic 144 × 9 × 5 1 ⁄2 inches ; 365.8 × 22.9 × 14 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled (A cr y lic Column), 1 970–71 Acrylic 144 × 9 × 5 1 ⁄2 inches ; 365.8 × 22.9 × 14 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled,19 6 9 Acrylic lacquer o n formed a crylic pl astic 53 inches (diameter); 134.6 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled,19 6 9 Acrylic lacquer o n formed a crylic pl astic 53 inches (diameter); 134.6 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled,19 6 3 – 65 Oil on canvas 82 1 ⁄2 × 84 1 ⁄2 inches; 209.6 × 214.6 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled,19 6 3 – 65 Oil on canvas 82 1 ⁄2 × 84 1 ⁄2 inches; 209.6 × 214.6 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled, 196 3 -65 (detail)

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ROBERT IRWIN Unt itled, 196 3 -65 (detail)

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DOUG WHEELER Unt itled,19 6 9 Sprayed la cquer o n acrylic with neon tubing 91 1 ⁄2 × 91 1 ⁄2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches; 23 2 . 4 × 2 3 2 . 4 × 1 9 . 1 cm

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DOUG WHEELER Unt itled,19 6 9 Sprayed la cquer o n acrylic with neon tubing 91 1 ⁄2 × 91 1 ⁄2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches; 23 2 . 4 × 2 3 2 . 4 × 1 9 . 1 cm

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JAMES TURRELL Juke Green,196 8 L ight projection Dim ensions variable

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JAMES TURRELL Juke Green,196 8 L ight projection Dim ensions variable

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JAMES TURRELL Ga rd Red,196 8 L ight projection Dim ension s variable

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JAMES TURRELL Ga rd Red,196 8 L ight projection Dim ension s variable

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LADDIE JOHN DILL Unt itled,19 6 9 / 201 0 Glass, sand, wood, and argon with mercury Dimensions variable (architecturally specific)

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LADDIE JOHN DILL Unt itled,19 6 9 / 201 0 Glass, sand, wood, and argon with mercury Dimensions variable (architecturally specific)

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LARRY BELL Gl ass B ox with E ll ipses,1 964 Vacuum coated etched glass and chromium plated brass 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 21 × 21 × 21 cm

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LARRY BELL Gl ass B ox with E ll ipses,1 964 Vacuum coated etched glass and chromium plated brass 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 21 × 21 × 21 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 966 Vacuum coated glass and chromium plated brass 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 inches; 10.8 × 10.8 × 10.8 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 966 Vacuum coated glass and chromium plated brass 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 inches; 10.8 × 10.8 × 10.8 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 966–67 Glass, vaporized gold, and chromium plated brass 10 × 10 × 10 inches; 25.4 × 25.4 × 25.4 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 966–67 Glass, vaporized gold, and chromium plated brass 10 × 10 × 10 inches; 25.4 × 25.4 × 25.4 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 968 Vacuum coated glass and chromium plated brass 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 21 × 21 × 21 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 968 Vacuum coated glass and chromium plated brass 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 21 × 21 × 21 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 970 Vacuum coated glass 100 × 4 15 ⁄16 × 1 ⁄4 inches; 254 × 12.5 × .6 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,1 970 Vacuum coated glass 100 × 4 15 ⁄16 × 1 ⁄4 inches; 254 × 12.5 × .6 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Cr azy O tto,1 962 Oil on canvas 66 × 65 inches; 167.6 × 165.1 cm

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ROBERT IRWIN Cr azy O tto,1 962 Oil on canvas 66 × 65 inches; 167.6 × 165.1 cm

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H E L E N PA S H G I A N Unt itled,19 6 8 – 69 Polyester resin and a crylic 8 inches (diam eter); 20.3 cm

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H E L E N PA S H G I A N Unt itled,19 6 8 – 69 Polyester resin and a crylic 8 inches (diam eter); 20.3 cm

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H E L E N PA S H G I A N Unt itled,19 6 8 – 69 Polyester resin and a crylic 5 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 inches; 14 × 16.5 × 16.5 cm

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H E L E N PA S H G I A N Unt itled,19 6 8 – 69 Polyester resin and a crylic 5 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 inches; 14 × 16.5 × 16.5 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Unt itled (Window),1968 Cast polyester resin 28 1 ⁄4 × 28 5⁄8 × 4 1 ⁄2 inches; 71.8 × 72.7 × 11.4 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Unt itled (Window),1968 Cast polyester resin 28 1 ⁄4 × 28 5⁄8 × 4 1 ⁄2 inches; 71.8 × 72.7 × 11.4 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Green Wedge,1 969 Ca st polyester resin 13 7 ⁄8 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 9 3 ⁄4 inches; 35.2 × 21.6 × 24.8 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Green Wedge,1 969 Ca st polyester resin 13 7 ⁄8 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 9 3 ⁄4 inches; 35.2 × 21.6 × 24.8 cm

56

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JOHN McCRACKEN Bl ack Pyr a mid,19 75 Polyester resin, fiberglass, and plywood 10 × 16 × 16 inches; 25.4 × 40.6 × 40.6 cm

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JOHN McCRACKEN Bl ack Pyr a mid,19 75 Polyester resin, fiberglass, and plywood 10 × 16 × 16 inches; 25.4 × 40.6 × 40.6 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Bl ue Wedge,196 9 Cast polyester resin 92 × 16 7 ⁄8 × 2 5 ⁄8 inches; 233.7 × 42.9 × 6.7 cm

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PETER ALEXANDER Bl ue Wedge,196 9 Cast polyester resin 92 × 16 7 ⁄8 × 2 5 ⁄8 inches; 233.7 × 42.9 × 6.7 cm

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Page 64

CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled,19 6 9 Acrylic and lacqu er o n pl astic 73 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 50 inch es; 185.4 × 21.6 × 127 cm

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled,19 6 9 Acrylic and lacqu er o n pl astic 73 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 50 inch es; 185.4 × 21.6 × 127 cm

64

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,19 6 9 Mineral coated gl ass 40 × 40 × 40 inches; 10 1.6 × 101.6 × 1 01.6 cm

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LARRY BELL Unt itled,19 6 9 Mineral coated gl ass 40 × 40 × 40 inches; 10 1.6 × 101.6 × 1 01.6 cm

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

70

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

70

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

72

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

72

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

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CRAIG KAUFFMAN Unt itled Wall Relief,19 68 Acrylic and lacquer on vacuum formed Plexiglas 34 1⁄2 × 56 1⁄4 × 8 1⁄4 inches; 87.6 × 142.9 × 21 cm

74

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D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E Tr iple Disk Red Met al Fla ke—B lack Edge,19 66 Fiberglass reinforced polyester 62 × 65 × 85 inches; 157.5 × 165.1 × 215.9 cm

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D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E Tr iple Disk Red Met al Fla ke—B lack Edge,19 66 Fiberglass reinforced polyester 62 × 65 × 85 inches; 157.5 × 165.1 × 215.9 cm

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JOHN McCRACKEN T hink Pink,19 67 Polyester resin, f iberglass, and plywood 105 × 18 1 ⁄4 × 3 1 ⁄8 inches; 266.7 × 46.4 × 7.9 cm

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JOHN McCRACKEN T hink Pink,19 67 Polyester resin, f iberglass, and plywood 105 × 18 1 ⁄4 × 3 1 ⁄8 inches; 266.7 × 46.4 × 7.9 cm

80

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Page 82

JOHN McCRACKEN Th et a-Tw o,196 5 Nitro cellulos e lacquer, fiberglass, and plywood 21 × 22 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches ; 53.3 × 55.9 × 19.1 cm

82

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JOHN McCRACKEN Th et a-Tw o,196 5 Nitro cellulos e lacquer, fiberglass, and plywood 21 × 22 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches ; 53.3 × 55.9 × 19.1 cm

82

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JOHN McCRACKEN Red Pl ank,19 67 Polyester resin, fiberglass, and plywood 104 3 ⁄16 × 18 3 ⁄16 × 3 1 ⁄4 inches; 264.6 × 46.2 × 8.3 cm

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JOHN McCRACKEN Red Pl ank,19 67 Polyester resin, fiberglass, and plywood 104 3 ⁄16 × 18 3 ⁄16 × 3 1 ⁄4 inches; 264.6 × 46.2 × 8.3 cm

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Page 86

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

PETER ALEXANDER Untitled (Window),1968 Ca st po lyester res in 28 1 ⁄4 × 28 5⁄8 × 4 1 ⁄2 inches; 71. 8 × 72 .7 × 11 .4 cm p. 55

Blue Wedge,1969 Ca st po lyester res in 92 × 1 6 7 ⁄8 × 2 5⁄8 inches; 233.7 × 42.9 × 6.7 cm p. 63

Green Wedge,1969 Ca st po lyester res in 13 7 ⁄8 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 9 3 ⁄4 inches; 35.2 × 21.6 × 24.8 cm p. 57

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EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

PETER ALEXANDER Untitled (Window),1968 Ca st po lyester res in 28 1 ⁄4 × 28 5⁄8 × 4 1 ⁄2 inches; 71. 8 × 72 .7 × 11 .4 cm p. 55

Blue Wedge,1969 Ca st po lyester res in 92 × 1 6 7 ⁄8 × 2 5⁄8 inches; 233.7 × 42.9 × 6.7 cm p. 63

Green Wedge,1969 Ca st po lyester res in 13 7 ⁄8 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 9 3 ⁄4 inches; 35.2 × 21.6 × 24.8 cm p. 57

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Page 88

LARRY BELL

ROBERT IRWIN

Gla ss B ox wi th E lli p ses,1 9 6 4

Cr azy Otto,1962

Vacuum coated etched gl ass a nd chromium pla ted brass

Oil on can vas

8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 1 × 2 1 × 2 1 cm

66 × 65 inches; 167.6 × 1 65. 1 cm Courtesy of PaceWil denstein, New York

p. 37

p. 47

U nti tled ,1 9 6 6 Vacuum coated gl ass and chro mium plated brass

Untitled,1963–65

4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 1 0 . 8 × 1 0 . 8 × 1 0 . 8 cm

Oil on can vas

p. 3 9

82 1 ⁄2 × 84 1 ⁄2 inches; 209 .6 × 2 14. 6 cm Whitney Museum o f Am erican Art. Gift o f Fred Mueller.

U nti tled ,1 9 6 6–6 7

pp. 23 a nd 25

Glass, vaporized gold, an d chromium plated brass 1 0 × 1 0 × 1 0 inch es ; 2 5 . 4 × 2 5 . 4 × 2 5 . 4 cm

Untitled ,1969

p. 4 1

A crylic l acqu er on formed a cryl ic pl astic 53 inches (diameter); 134.6 cm

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8 Vacuum coated gl ass and chro mium plated brass

Collection Museum of Contem porary A rt San Diego p. 21

8 ⁄4 × 8 ⁄4 × 8 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 1 × 2 1 × 2 1 cm 1

1

1

p. 43

Untitled (Acr ylic Column) ,1970–71 A crylic

U nti tled ,1 9 6 9 Mineral coated gla ss

144 × 9 × 5 1 ⁄2 inches; 365.8 × 22.9 × 14 cm p. 19

4 0 × 4 0 × 4 0 inch es ; 1 0 1 . 6 × 1 0 1 . 6 × 1 0 1 . 6 cm Co u rtes y o f Pa ceWil den stein , New York p. 69

U nti tled ,1 9 7 0 Vacuum coated gl ass 1 0 0 × 4 1 5 ⁄1 6 × 1 ⁄4 in ch es ; 2 5 4 × 1 2 . 5 × . 6 cm p. 4 5

CRAIG KAUFFMAN

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm Collection of Beth Rudin DeWo ody, New York p. 71

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 LADDIE JOHN DILL

U nti tled ,1 9 69 / 2 0 1 0 Glass, sand, wood, and argon with mercury

A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm p. 73

Dimensions variable (architectually specific) p. 33

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm p. 75

Untitled ,1969 A crylic a n d la cqu er on pl a stic 73 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 50 inches; 185.4 × 21. 6 × 12 7 cm p. 65

88

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LARRY BELL

ROBERT IRWIN

Gla ss B ox wi th E lli p ses,1 9 6 4

Cr azy Otto,1962

Vacuum coated etched gl ass a nd chromium pla ted brass

Oil on can vas

8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 1 × 2 1 × 2 1 cm

66 × 65 inches; 167.6 × 1 65. 1 cm Courtesy of PaceWil denstein, New York

p. 37

p. 47

U nti tled ,1 9 6 6 Vacuum coated gl ass and chro mium plated brass

Untitled,1963–65

4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 × 4 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 1 0 . 8 × 1 0 . 8 × 1 0 . 8 cm

Oil on can vas

p. 3 9

82 1 ⁄2 × 84 1 ⁄2 inches; 209 .6 × 2 14. 6 cm Whitney Museum o f Am erican Art. Gift o f Fred Mueller.

U nti tled ,1 9 6 6–6 7

pp. 23 a nd 25

Glass, vaporized gold, an d chromium plated brass 1 0 × 1 0 × 1 0 inch es ; 2 5 . 4 × 2 5 . 4 × 2 5 . 4 cm

Untitled ,1969

p. 4 1

A crylic l acqu er on formed a cryl ic pl astic 53 inches (diameter); 134.6 cm

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8 Vacuum coated gl ass and chro mium plated brass

Collection Museum of Contem porary A rt San Diego p. 21

8 ⁄4 × 8 ⁄4 × 8 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 1 × 2 1 × 2 1 cm 1

1

1

p. 43

Untitled (Acr ylic Column) ,1970–71 A crylic

U nti tled ,1 9 6 9 Mineral coated gla ss

144 × 9 × 5 1 ⁄2 inches; 365.8 × 22.9 × 14 cm p. 19

4 0 × 4 0 × 4 0 inch es ; 1 0 1 . 6 × 1 0 1 . 6 × 1 0 1 . 6 cm Co u rtes y o f Pa ceWil den stein , New York p. 69

U nti tled ,1 9 7 0 Vacuum coated gl ass 1 0 0 × 4 1 5 ⁄1 6 × 1 ⁄4 in ch es ; 2 5 4 × 1 2 . 5 × . 6 cm p. 4 5

CRAIG KAUFFMAN

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm Collection of Beth Rudin DeWo ody, New York p. 71

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 LADDIE JOHN DILL

U nti tled ,1 9 69 / 2 0 1 0 Glass, sand, wood, and argon with mercury

A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm p. 73

Dimensions variable (architectually specific) p. 33

Untitled Wall Relief,1968 A crylic a n d la cqu er on va cu u m fo rm ed Plex igl a s 34 1 ⁄2 × 56 1 ⁄4 × 8 1 ⁄4 inches; 87. 6 × 14 2.9 × 2 1 cm p. 75

Untitled ,1969 A crylic a n d la cqu er on pl a stic 73 × 8 1 ⁄2 × 50 inches; 185.4 × 21. 6 × 12 7 cm p. 65

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JOHN MCCRACKEN

JAMES TURRELL

Th eta -Tw o,1 9 6 5

Gard Red ,1968

Nitrocellulose lacqu er, fibergla ss, and plywood

L igh t projectio n

2 1 × 2 2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inch es; 5 3 . 3 × 5 5 . 9 × 1 9 . 1 cm

Dimensio ns variable

p. 8 3

p. 31

Red Pla n k,1 9 6 7

Juke Green,1968

Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

L igh t projectio n

1 04 3 ⁄1 6 × 1 8 3 ⁄1 6 × 3 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 6 4 . 6 x 4 6 . 2 x 8 . 3 cm

Dimensio ns variable

p. 85

p. 29

Th i n k Pi n k,1 9 6 7 Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E

1 0 5 × 18 1 ⁄4 × 3 1 ⁄8 in ch es ; 2 6 6 . 7 × 4 6 . 4 × 7 . 9 cm p. 81

Triple Disk Red Metal Flake—Black Edge,1966 Fiberglass reinforced polyester

B la ck Py r a m i d,1 9 7 5 Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

62 × 65 × 85 inches; 157.5 × 165.1 × 215.9 cm p. 77

1 0 × 1 6 × 1 6 inch es ; 2 5 . 4 × 4 0 . 6 × 4 0 . 6 cm p. 5 9

DOUG WHEELER

H E L E N PA S H G I A N

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8–6 9 Polyester resin and acryl ic

Untitled ,1969 S prayed l acqu er on a crylic w ith n eon tubin g 91 1 ⁄2 × 91 1 ⁄2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches; 232 .4 × 2 32. 4 × 19.1 cm p. 27

8 in ch es (dia meter); 2 0 . 3 cm Priva te Co l lectio n p. 5 1

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8–6 9 , Pol yester resin an d acrylic 5 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 inch es ; 1 4 × 1 6 . 5 × 1 6 . 5 cm p. 5 3

90

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Page 90

JOHN MCCRACKEN

JAMES TURRELL

Th eta -Tw o,1 9 6 5

Gard Red ,1968

Nitrocellulose lacqu er, fibergla ss, and plywood

L igh t projectio n

2 1 × 2 2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inch es; 5 3 . 3 × 5 5 . 9 × 1 9 . 1 cm

Dimensio ns variable

p. 8 3

p. 31

Red Pla n k,1 9 6 7

Juke Green,1968

Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

L igh t projectio n

1 04 3 ⁄1 6 × 1 8 3 ⁄1 6 × 3 1 ⁄4 inch es ; 2 6 4 . 6 x 4 6 . 2 x 8 . 3 cm

Dimensio ns variable

p. 85

p. 29

Th i n k Pi n k,1 9 6 7 Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

D E WA I N VA L E N T I N E

1 0 5 × 18 1 ⁄4 × 3 1 ⁄8 in ch es ; 2 6 6 . 7 × 4 6 . 4 × 7 . 9 cm p. 81

Triple Disk Red Metal Flake—Black Edge,1966 Fiberglass reinforced polyester

B la ck Py r a m i d,1 9 7 5 Polyester resin, f ibergla ss, and plywood

62 × 65 × 85 inches; 157.5 × 165.1 × 215.9 cm p. 77

1 0 × 1 6 × 1 6 inch es ; 2 5 . 4 × 4 0 . 6 × 4 0 . 6 cm p. 5 9

DOUG WHEELER

H E L E N PA S H G I A N

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8–6 9 Polyester resin and acryl ic

Untitled ,1969 S prayed l acqu er on a crylic w ith n eon tubin g 91 1 ⁄2 × 91 1 ⁄2 × 7 1 ⁄2 inches; 232 .4 × 2 32. 4 × 19.1 cm p. 27

8 in ch es (dia meter); 2 0 . 3 cm Priva te Co l lectio n p. 5 1

U nti tled ,1 9 6 8–6 9 , Pol yester resin an d acrylic 5 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 × 6 1 ⁄2 inch es ; 1 4 × 1 6 . 5 × 1 6 . 5 cm p. 5 3

90

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Pages 2, 34–35, 49, 60–61, 66–67, 78–79: installation views, P rima r y At mospheres: Wor ks from Ca lifor nia 19 60 -1 97 0 January 8 – February 6, 2010 David Zwirner, New York

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Pages 2, 34–35, 49, 60–61, 66–67, 78–79: installation views, P rima r y At mospheres: Wor ks from Ca lifor nia 19 60 -1 97 0 January 8 – February 6, 2010 David Zwirner, New York

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Laddie John Dill, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, De Wain Valentine, and Doug Wheeler, without whom this exhibition and catalogue would not have been possible.

We wish especially to convey our thanks to the institutions and collectors who have so generously lent us their works for this exhibition, including The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Beth Rudin DeWoody; PaceWildenstein, New York; and the private collectors who chose to remain anonymous. We are grateful to Dave Hickey, whose insightful essay published here adds to the growing scholarship on this body of work. We wish to thank Sara Bennett, Jack Brogan, and Kiana Sasaki for their efforts and assistance in the documentation and care of the works in the exhibition, and we owe our gratitude to Kelly Reynolds, Josh Brown, and Sam Martineau for their indispensible expertise and assistance in their installation. We also wish to thank Justin Anderson, Ivin Ballen, Juan Comas, William Conklin, Ariel Dill, Joel Fennell, Kristin Klosterman, Clive Murphy, Christian Sampson, Matthew Schreiber, and Ramon Silva for their assistance. Finally, we would like to thank Anna Gray, Meghan Hill, Lauren Knighton, Greg Lulay, Erin Pearson, Ashley Stewart, and Alexandra Whitney for their invaluable efforts in the preparation of this exhibition and catalogue.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Laddie John Dill, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, De Wain Valentine, and Doug Wheeler, without whom this exhibition and catalogue would not have been possible.

We wish especially to convey our thanks to the institutions and collectors who have so generously lent us their works for this exhibition, including The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Beth Rudin DeWoody; PaceWildenstein, New York; and the private collectors who chose to remain anonymous. We are grateful to Dave Hickey, whose insightful essay published here adds to the growing scholarship on this body of work. We wish to thank Sara Bennett, Jack Brogan, and Kiana Sasaki for their efforts and assistance in the documentation and care of the works in the exhibition, and we owe our gratitude to Kelly Reynolds, Josh Brown, and Sam Martineau for their indispensible expertise and assistance in their installation. We also wish to thank Justin Anderson, Ivin Ballen, Juan Comas, William Conklin, Ariel Dill, Joel Fennell, Kristin Klosterman, Clive Murphy, Christian Sampson, Matthew Schreiber, and Ramon Silva for their assistance. Finally, we would like to thank Anna Gray, Meghan Hill, Lauren Knighton, Greg Lulay, Erin Pearson, Ashley Stewart, and Alexandra Whitney for their invaluable efforts in the preparation of this exhibition and catalogue.

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Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970 First edition published in May 2010 This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970 January 8 – February 6, 2010 David Zwirner, New York Curated by Kristine Bell and Tim Nye Editors: Kristine Bell and Tim Nye Editorial Coordinator: Alexandra Whitney Production Coordinator: Lauren Knighton Catalogue Design: Skolkin & Chickey Copyediting: Nadine Covert and Meghan Hill Color separations: Fire Dragon Color Printing: Steidl, Göttingen Photography Credits: Cover and page 27: Jens Frederiksen All plates and installation views, except pages 21, 23, 25, 27, and 47: Cathy Carver Page 21: Philipp Scholz Rittermann Pages 23, 25, and 47: Malcolm Varon All artwork © 2010 the artists “Primary Atmospheres” Essay © 2010 David Hickey Publication © 2010 Steidl / David Zwirner All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photographing, recording, or information storage and retrieval, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Düstere Str. 4 / 37073 Göttingen, Germany Phone +49 551-49 60 60 / Fax +49 551-49 60 649 mail@steidl.de

www.steidleville.com / www.steidl.de

ISBN 978–3–86930–147–1 Printed in Germany