Project Description

William Anastasi

William Anastasi (b.1933 – d.2023)

 

b. 1933, Philadelphia, PA

In 1968 Andy Warhol exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts. Since Warhol’s show was seminal in the development of Pop Art, there was a lingering presence that could not be denied, even after the work was no longer in the space.  Anastasi went to a sign maker and had a plaque made that read, “A Painting of a Soup Can Used to Hang Here”. The reference to the soup can and the fact the sign was not made by the artist was the development of Warhol’s subject matter as well as a Duchamp
reference. It was pure genius.  An edition of this work was produced years later

William Anastasi is one of the founders of both Conceptual and Minimal Art. A “classmate” of Andy Warhol, Sol LeWitt, and Hans Haacke, Anastasi has contributed greatly to the art world. He currently lives and works in New York City. His work is a part of numerous collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN.

AWARDS AND HONORS
2009
John Cage Award, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York
 
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015
Sandra Gering Inc., New York, NY
2015
Galerie Jocelyn Wolf, Paris France
2013
William Anastasi: Sound Works 1963-2013, Hunter College Art Galleries, New York, NY
2012
Galerie Jocelyn Wolf, Paris, France
2010
William Anastasi, John Cage Award (Biennial Award)
2009
William Anastasi, Emilio Mazzoli Gallery, Modena, Italy
2009
William Anastasi Retrospective, curator: Inge Merete Kjeldgaard, The Esberg Museum of Modern Art, Esbjerg, Denmark
2008
Opposites are Identical, Peter Blum Gallery, New York
2008
Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2007
Retrospective, The Drawing Center, New York
2006
Baumgartner Gallery, New York
2006
Bjorn Ressle Fine Arts, New York
2006
White Box, New York
2005
Blind, art agents gallery, Hamburg
2005
Ohne Titel, Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Koln
2005
William Anastasi, Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen
2003
Blind, The Annex, New York, NY
2003
William Anastasi: A Retrospective, Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
2000
William Anastasi, art agents gallery, Hamburg, Germany
1999
…vor mehr als einem halben Jahrhundert, Landes Museum, Linz Gary Tatintsian Gallery, New York
1998
I am A Jew, The Philadelphia Museum of Judaica, Philadelphia
1997
The Painting of the World Jew, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
1996
Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen
1995
The Pier Gallery, Orkney, Scotland
1995
William Anastasi: A Retrospective (1960-95), Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia
1994
Kristal Fahl Gallery, Stockholm
1993
Du Jarry, exhibition of original manuscript, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
1993
Drawing Sounds: An Installation in Honor of John Cage, The Philadelphia Museum of Art
1992
Works 1963-1992, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden
1991
Sink, Trespass, Issue, Incision, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
1990
Incidents and Coincidents, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
1989
A Selection of Works from 1960 to 1989, The Scott Hanson Gallery, New York The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
1988
Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1982
Diary Paintings, Ericson Gallery
1981
Coincidents, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1979
Re-visions: Perspectives and Propsals in Film and Video, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1979
Coincidents, Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf
1979
Max Hetzler, Stutttgart, Germany
1978
Terminus, The Hudson River Museum, New York
1977
P.S.1 Museum, The Institute of Art and Urban Resources, New York
1970
Continuum, Dwan Gallery, New York
1967
Six Sites, Dwan Gallery, New York
1966
Sound Objects, Dwan Gallery, New York
1965
Witherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina
1964
Washington Square Gallery, New York
 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
Drawing Dialouges: Selections from the Sol LeWitt Collection, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
2015
Mirror Images, Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charite, Berlin, Germany
2015
Evans Editions, 315 Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Gray is the Color, If I had a Heart, Marc Straus Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Highlights: Gallery Artists, Thomas Rehbein Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2015
Rock, Paper, Scissors: Drawn from the Joann Gonzales Hickey Collection, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2014
Horror Vacui, Gagosian Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2014
PAPER/WORKS, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2011
Anti-Photography, curator: Duncan Wooldrige, Focal Point Gallery, Essex, United Kingdom
2010
Intolerance, Curators: Christopher Whittey and Gerald Ross, Decker and Meyerhoff Galleries, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
2009
The Third Mind, American Artists Contemplate Asian 1860-1989, curator: Alexandra Munroe, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
2009
East/West, Bjorn Ressle Gallery, New York
2009
The Title of This Show, curator: Mario Garcia Torres, Jan Mot Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2009
New York, New Drawings 1946-2007, Selections from the Werner H. Kramarsky Collection, Museo de Art Contemporaneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain
2008
Five Americans, curator: Sam Jedig, Borup Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008
Brooklyn Rail Benefit, Pace Gallery, New York
2008
ONE More: Dedicated to Sol LeWitt, curator: Bradshaw, Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art, Esbjerg, Denmark
2007
Live/Work, performance into drawing, MoMA, New York
2007
Out of Time, a contemporary view, MoMA, New York
2007
Anastasi/Judd/Sandback, Museum of Art, Birmingham
2006
Collection Kramarsky, Museum of Art, Birmingham
2006
Looking at words, Andrea Rosen, New York
2006
Portraits of Artists, works from Rex Capital, Luhring Augustine, New York
2003
The Invisible Thread: Buddhist Spirit in Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, New York
2003
Davidson Art Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
2003
Works from the LeWitt Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain
2001
Visions From American Art: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2000, The Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
2001
Into the Light: The Projected Image in American Art 1964-1977, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; curated by Crissie Iles
2000
The Century of Innocence: The History of the White Monochrome, Rooseum Museum of Art, Malmo, Sweden
2000
Topology, White Box Gallery, New York
2000
This is What It Is, Bard College, Annadale-on Hudson, New York
2000
Destruction/Creation, Ubu Gallery, New York
2000
The American Century, 1950-2000, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1999
Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years, La Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, Spain
1999
Afterimage, curated by Connie Butler, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1998
Drawing is another kind of language: Recent American drawings from a New York private collection, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany
1998
Re: Duchamp/Contemporary Artists Respond to Marcel Duchamp’s Influence, Abraham Lubelsky Gallery, New York
1997
From Time to Time, Iris and B. Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worchester, MA
1997
Word to Word, Linda Kerkland Gallery, New York
1997
10th Year Anniversary Group Show, Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
1996
Hubert Winter Gallery, Vienna, Austria
1996
Drawing on Chance (Selections from the Collection), MoMA, New York
1996
Timewise, The Swiss Institute, New York
1995
Sound Sculpture: Music for the Eyes, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany
1995
Joyce and the Visual Arts, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia, PA
1995
Dark Room, Stark Gallery, New York
1994
Drawings, Werner H. Kramarsky, New York with Dove Bradshaw
1994
Autobodyography, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, with Dove Bradshaw
1993
Rolyholyover: A Circus, MoCA, Los Angeles, Le Centre Pompidou, Paris, The Guggenheim Museum, New York
1992
Concurrencies, Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York
1991
William Anastasi, Dove Bradshaw, John Cage, Tom Marioni, Robert Rauschenberg & Mark Tobey ‘imitating nature in her manner of operation . . . Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
1990
Casino Fantasma, curated by Allana Heiss, Winter Casino, Venice, Italy
1989
The Leo Castelli Gallery, Performing Arts Benefit
1988
Benefit for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1988
The Cunningham Benefit Art Exhibition, Blum Helman Gallery, New York
1988
Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen
1988
The Jewish Museum, New York
1988
Stux Gallery, Boston
1987
Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1987
Reading Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
 
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, NY
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany
The Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
The Phoenix Museum of Art, Phoenix, AZ
The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Art Institute, Chicago, IL
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Tatens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen, Denmark
Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX
Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Denmark
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK

Christies: An Interview With William Anastasi
Two Hours is impressively large and oddly calming, like many of Anastasi’s works. There is stillness within the seemingly chaotic looped lines emanating from multiple directions — lacunas of unconscious memories expressed in yellow and black. 

William Anastasi: ‘Sound Works, 1963-2013’
William Anastasi’s work falls somewhere between a Zen koan and a philosophical proposition. More generally, it questions notions of art, perception and reality.

Art Forum: William Anastasi
In the annals of visual artists employing sound, William Anastasi occupies a curious position.

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