#robert morris

RIP American Minimalist sculptor Robert Morris, who has died at the age of 87. His work was first presented at the Jewish Museum in our landmark 1966 exhibition on Minimalism Primary Structures. In this photograph, Morris’s work is seen on the right, next to sculptures by Donald Judd and Robert Grosvenor.

1956 Robert Morris’s 356 Porsche Speedster 

As a leading proponent of Minimalism Robert Morris was a conceptually driven artist and thinker whose sculpture and sculptural installations of the 1960s and 1970s gravitated towards feats of industrial fabrication with commercially available materials including aluminum and steel. 

Morris enlisted his sculpture assistant, Rolf Horst, to also help customize the Speedster with modifications influenced by the Porsche RS-61, including an aluminum head fairing, passenger tonneau cover, alloy seat, and alloy rear wheel spats. Morris also opted to strip the car’s body of all trim, including the removal of door handles to create a smooth body line unique to his Speedster.

For the interior, Morris installed custom elements including a blacked-out vinyl dash and diamond-tread rubber floor mats. Thus renovated, Morris drove the Speedster until 2007, when he chose to dissemble it and paint it silver, hanging the freshly painted panels on the walls of his New York studio.

Courtesy: Los Angeles Modern Auctions / @millersportscars

Announcement for an exhibition at the Dwan Gallery, 1967

Robert Morris, Untitled (Pine portal with Mirrors), 1961,
laminated pine wood and mirrors, 121,9 x 213,4 x 27,9 cm

“Bad Faith”
Nayland Blake, Jessica Diamond, Peter Halley, Robert Morris

James Fuentes Gallery, 55 Delancey St., NYC

Video Link: https://youtu.be/kPjGgb4OfIs

in the first part of this video, James Kalm visits James Fuentes Gallery and walks us through “Bad Faith,” an exhibition that presents works by artists Nayland Blake, Jessica Diamond, Peter Halley and Robert Morris “made in New York City between 1982-1994. Revealing a collective anxiety caused by increasingly conservative US foreign and economic policies—from the Cold War to the rise of neo-liberal politicians—and the fraught landscape of the culture wars in the wake of the AIDS crisis and identity politics, these works reflect a historical moment of deep cultural and political uncertainty.”