{"data":{"id":"33","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":33,"topgoose_id":101,"tms_id":33,"display_name":"Richard Artschwager","sort_name":"Artschwager Richard","display_date":"1923–2013","begin_date":"1923","end_date":"2013","biography":"\u003cp\u003eOver the course of six decades Richard\nArtschwager produced sculptures, paintings,\ndrawings, and architectural interventions\nthat consistently sidestepped the art-\nhistorical categorizations of their times.\nDuring the 1950s Artschwager supported\nhimself as a cabinetmaker, but by the early\n1960s he felt increasingly compelled to\nmake what he deemed “useless objects”\nrather than utilitarian furniture. Artschwager’s\ntechnical abilities informed his artistic\nsensibility, and he continued to use wood, and\nplywood in particular, for his sculptures. But\nhe covered the constructions with melamine\nlaminate (better known by the commercial\nname Formica), an unlikely medium that\nhe described as “the great ugly material, the\nhorror of the age.” More commonly found on\nluncheonette counters than in museums\nor art galleries, Formica proved a productive\nchoice for an artist interested in the\npictorial qualities of sculpture.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2472\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor Description of Table\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, Artschwager\nfashioned a plywood box and covered the\nsides with various patterned laminates\nthat approximate wood grain, the\nnegative space between and beneath its\nlegs, and a tablecloth. Its rigid geometries\nand bilateral symmetry evoke Minimalist\nsculpture even as the work remains\nplayfully representational. The commercial\nmaterials invoke the Pop aesthetic of\ncombining “high” art with “low” mediums\nand techniques, yet the artist also privileged\nthe trompe l’oeil effects of the synthetic\nsurfaces. By optically mimicking the\nnegative space beneath the table alongside\nthe textures of woven fabric and striated\nwood on a continuous plane, Artschwager’s\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;Description of Table\u003c/em\u003e is at once an object and a picture of an object.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":null,"wikidata_id":"Q568262","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:28:52.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-23T01:30:58.565-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/33/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/33/exhibitions"}}}}