RUINSOFACCOUNTIRRETRIEXTRAORDOORWAYCHAMBERGIGANTIDEATHSHHUMANFICOLOSS, from "YUCATAN"

Carl Andre

Carl Andre's Yucatan poems are the perfect marriage of two virtually opposing art movements, conceptual art and minimalism. The words appropriated from chapter headings of Vol. II of John L. Stephens' "Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan" of 1848, Andre rearranges them in grid like formations which recall his great floor sculptures. Subjected to arbitrary rules the words, stripped of the spaces between which give them instantly recognisable meaning, form a symbolic representation of the landscape of an archeological site.

The alternating red and black incomplete squares register much order to the eye, but the abundance of negative space suggests crumbling ruins.

Artist
Carl Andre (B. 1935)
Title
RUINSOFACCOUNTIRRETRIEXTRAORDOORWAYCHAMBERGIGANTIDEATHSHHUMANFICOLOSS
Title notes
from the Yucatan portfolio
Medium
Colour Xerox
Date
1975
Size
11 x 8 ½ in : 27.9 x 21.5 cm
Signature
Signed and dated '@ carl andre © 1972' (lower right)
Inscriptions
Inscribed YUCA C42 C-12 on the reverse.
Further information
The inscribed C notation refers to set C of the xerox copies of Yucatan, 1972 which were made in 1975 and sold as individual sheets, C-12 meaning it was the 12th page.
Provenance
The artist
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Texas Gallery, Houston
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Reference
C16-66
Status
Available for sale, please enquire for price

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