Artist Richard Artschwager '48, whose works are on exhibit at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art through March 15, participated in a discussion of his work with Kay WalkingStick, associate professor of art, Jan. 31 in the museum lobby.
WalkingStick opened the gallery talk by recalling the first time she saw Artschwager's work at the Whitney Museum. "I got into this elevator to go up to the second floor," she said. "It looked like an elevator and it made all the right sounds, but it didn't move."
The elevator, it turned out, was not an elevator at all, but one of the pieces in Artschwager's exhibition. "He fooled me," WalkingStick said.
Artschwager's art, according to WalkingStick, is about perception -- visual, psychological and physical. "This exhibition [at the Johnson] is about investigating our perceptions," she said.
Although he has been identified as one of the most important and influential artists of the postwar era, Artschwager studied chemistry at Cornell, earning his bachelor's degree in 1948. After leaving Ithaca, he moved to New York City to study art at Amèdèe Ozenfant Studio School, where he began to construct furniture. "Although I do a little of everything, including painting and sculpture, my preferred work is furniture-making," he said.
Artschwager said he made an effort to incorporate sculpture, painting and drawing into his exhibition at the Johnson Museum.
Near the end of the discussion, WalkingStick said it was not clear to her whether the exhibition, or the placement of the various pieces, was actually designed by the artist or carefully arranged by the museum staff.
With a smile, Artschwager said, "I arranged them in the order that I finished them."
Artschwager's exhibition at the Johnson, through March 15, coincides with his 50th Cornell reunion year and the museum's 25th anniversary.
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