Review by Christopher Knight
For Robert Wilhite, painting and sculpture take shape as furniture and musical instruments
January 6 - February 16, 2019
Artist’s reception: Sunday, January 6, 2019
2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
installation view no.4
The historical event known as Conceptual Art released two related if seemingly opposed forces that continue to shape much of what has followed: On the one hand, there is the centripetal, inward-looking self-examination of art’s own conditions of possibility and, on the other hand, there is the centrifugal, outward-looking expansion of art into the adjacent disciplines of music, theater and design that has generated a number of rich and productive back-and-forth movements in the process. At least as much as any other artist of his generation, Robert Wilhite pioneered this latter, and now increasingly common, cross-disciplinary approach to contemporary art. To support this claim, the exhibition, Robert Wilhite: Art and Design at As Is gathers key examples from the artist’s diverse activities including his artist-designed musical instruments from the late 1970’s, commercial flatware designs by the firm Bissell and Wilhite Co, produced in the 1980’s and 90’s, theatrical props and graphic designs from his collaborations with the late Guy de Cointet, pieces of his own artist-designed furniture as well as select examples of Wilhite’s paintings, drawings and sculpture.
installation view no.1
installation view no.12
installation view no.13