Wright Auction

In this edition for the artistic publication Parkett, artist Richard Artschwager created a series of five works, each in an edition of twelve. Each work, although different in size, has the same volume of 1000 cubic inches. Reflective of his body of work during this time, these large scale crates straddle the line between art object and domestic object, taking up space both physically and conceptually.    

What is American about Artschwager’s objects goes beyond analogy—and there is more to it than the aggressive way they display their surface textures. Whether Formica or fiberboard, flowing grain or rigid pattern, their surfaces appear hermetic. Their sheer size further reinforces their presence as pure surface…They are like those organisms that have settled into extreme ecological niches, just below the boiling point of water, or in the anaerobic ocean depths. That is the kind of position that Artschwager’s objects occupy in the realm of art objects: By scale and texture, they have one foot in the world of objects and one foot in the world of art.

Kurt W. Forster, Parkett No. 46, 1996