Carl ANDRE - Zinc and magnesium floor (1969)

 

Zinc and magnesium floor
1969
Zinc and magnesium (183x183 cm)
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimora (Maryland)

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Classical sculpture had to be somehow revised and reconsidered. This work by the American Carl Andre is very simple in appearance and profound in meaning.

We are faced with 36 square plates of pure zinc and magnesium, laid by the artist alternately on the floor.

Sculpture requires that there are no empty spaces between materials and lines, sculpture wants and must recreate a body, a whole. Here, on the other hand, we only have the perception that the figure is unique, if we observe carefully we realize that between one square and another there is an empty space. First spontaneous question: how much does perception deceive us?

Sculpture essentially develops vertically, imposing itself on our life. Here, however, we are faced with a structure that merges us with the floor, to be trampled on.

Second spontaneous question: under what conditions do we evaluate and recognize objects?

Andre Carl tells his biography through this work. Strongly influenced by Frank Stella and Constatin Brancusi, between 1960 and 1964 he worked at the Pennsylvania Railway, using interchangeable standardized units. In this work of him we find these characteristics: unity, standardized and interchangeable.

His artistic research of him is characterized by the works of 1960 in which he assembled bricks, polystyrene panels and concrete blocks; all elements that build everyday life.

Geometry is another indispensable aspect of modern buildings and land use plans; the geometry and identical shapes that we find among the founding principles of Carl Andre's art.

Comparing artists: Albers, Brancusi, Judd, LeWitt, Long, Serra, Stella