G, who had visited stoller after being diagnosed as a psychopath with deeply antisocial instincts and. Andos and mattaclarks structures break the visual and symbolic boundaries normally associated with the architectural. Splitting is a film that documents an architecturalsculptural performance. Gordon mattaclark, letter to carol goodenthe meeting, december 1973, estate of gordon mattaclark, on deposit at the cca, montreal, reproduced in corrine disserens ed. He chiseled at its foundations and transformed it into a temporary sculptural environment. Since 1998, the estate of gordon mattaclark has been represented by david zwirner. The gordon matta clark collection documents the life and work of artistarchitect gordon matta clark 19431978. Mattaclark understood the psychic power of buildings over people. Gordon mattaclark was the james dean of postwar american art. Mattaclark, struck down with pancreatic cancer in 1978, his 39 years of posthumous life have been in many ways more influential, unexpected and remarkable than the 35 short years he lived above ground. Sharp then encouraged gordon matta clark to move to new york city where sharp continued to introduce him to members of the new york art world.
This discarded footage is assembled to provide a broader perspective on the spatial and social context of three building cuts and one communal project realized by mattaclark in the 1970ssplitting 1974, days end 1975, conical intersect 1975, and food 1971 including extensive views of the surrounding environments, statements. Photographs of 322 humphrey street as it was left abandoned through the house being cut in half, demolished and removed. Gordon mattaclarks antiestablishment suspicion of the worlds of art and architecture, illustrated by his involvement in the anarchitecture group, led to some of the most innovative works of conceptual art of the 20th century. Splitting, cutting, writing, drawing, eating gordon mattaclark is organized by the serralves museum of contemporary art, porto, and culturgest, lisbon, where it will be presented in october 2017. After completing a degree in architecture at cornell university, mattaclark returned to his home city of new york. In one notebook from 1976, he wrote that he wanted to convert a place into a state of mind. Mattaclarks principal contribution was as a radical sculptor.
Qualifying the ancient greek saying man is the measure, gordon mattaclark 19431978 asserted instead you are the measure, conveying the defining theme in an oeuvre that would exert a powerful influence on fellow artists and architects. Splitting consists of photographic documentation of mattaclarks splitting. Jun 01, 2003 thus the roof cut at a whole house genoa, 1973, the cut of splitting, 1974, and the facade removal of bingo all involve a discussion with architecture that in matta clark s words might have taken place in rowes seminar but that gain significance as practice when developed as material interventions on the structures themselves. When he sawed a house in half splitting, 1974, he was commenting on the dissolution of the american family. Gordon mattaclark was an american artist and architect known for his largescale projects.
Gordon mattaclark, splitting, and the unmade house the i. To understand these two lives, and their essential differences, one of mattaclarks mostexhibited works, fake estates. Gordon mattaclarks indelible influence on architecture. Apr 27, 2018 the dossier includes a collection of mattaclarks aphoristic art cards, the 96 photographs that were produced by the various participants for possible inclusion in the exhibition, and images from a recently unearthed video of mattaclarks now famous bus trip to see splitting in englewood, new jersey. Exhibition catalogues exhibition catalogs exhibitions. Abaa splitting by art mattaclark, gordon search for. Splitting matta clark, gordon, mary jane jacobs on. Mar 03, 2007 an image from gordon mattaclarks splitting 1974. Crows groundbreaking essay is followed by christian kravagnas discussion of mattaclarks use of photography and film and judith russi kirshners essay on the artists urban sensibility. Born in new york and trained in architecture at cornell, he went on to question the fields conventions in vivid projects that excised holes into existing buildings or assembled deeds to new york city alleys and curbs. Gordon mattaclark splitting whitney museum of american art. The specificity of these plots is to be tiny residual areas, often inaccessible parcels of land escaped for some reasons to the rules of the grid and the interests of the real estates. Qualifying the ancient greek saying man is the measure, gordon matta clark 19431978 asserted instead you are the measure, conveying the defining theme in an oeuvre that would exert a powerful influence on fellow artists and architects.
Like the accompanying series of photographs, sketches, and an artists book, mattaclarks film operates as both a document of the performative event and a parallel work. It is curated by joao ribas, deputy director and senior curator at serralves museum, and delfim sardo, visual arts curator at culturgest. Splitting consists of photographic documentation of matta clark s splitting 1974, in which the artist made an incision down the center of a new jersey house that had been slated for demolition, and then removed all four corners of the houses eaves. Gordon mattaclark, scion and rebel, died at 35 in 1978 and has since become a cult figure of latetwentiethcentury art. The dossier includes a collection of mattaclarks aphoristic art cards, the 96 photographs that were produced by the various participants for possible inclusion in the exhibition, and images from a recently unearthed video of mattaclarks now famous bus trip to see splitting in englewood, new jersey. The act evoked both his own and the universal disintegration of the family. Anarchitect exhibition and catalogue are made possible by the henry luce foundation, national endowment for the arts, graham foundation for advanced studies in the fine arts, blue rider group at morgan stanley, david zwirner, estate of gordon matta clark, and furthermore. Four corners 1974 322 humphrey street, englewood, new jersey courtesy of david zwirner, ny and the estate of gordon mattaclark. Reprint made by the estate of gordon mattaclark from matta clark negatives. This bond between home and occupant was articulated in the correspondence that mattaclark received after splitting was opened for viewing. Anarchitect takes viewers back to a time when the bronx was burning, and architectural intervention struck back at gentrification and bland modernism.
Gordon mattaclark, splitting, and the unmade house the. A notorious womanizer and allaround piece of work, matta skipped town and moved to paris when his twin sons were babies. It also includes personal records and letters by and to his parents roberto matta probably 19122002 and anne alpert 19141997, as well as his twin brother, john sebastian matta 19431976. Mattaclarks father was the chilean surrealist roberto matta. In the case of splitting, he and helpers intentionally split a house, idle, and marked for demolition, in two parts. The space between takes the form of a critical essay by james attlee, who treats the work in a more general european context. Splitting gordon mattaclark carolina borges sacoto. Original photograph in the collection of sfmoma there is a melancholy and nostalgia that pervades matta clark s fragments of walls, floors, cutthrough spaces or domestic interiors opened to the outside. Consulta mais ideias sobre arte e arquitetura, arthur bispo do. Estate of gordon mattaclark yet, as with the verbal elements of his work, mattaclarks engagements with communally inhabited city spaces are more complicated and more subtle than can be accounted for by an exclusively stylistic interpretation, in which such interests drive his doings in aesthetic terms but remain distinct from politicsassuch. For splitting 1974, matta clark carved through the various floors of a typical suburban house in new jersey, splitting it in two. Super 8 film transferred to video black and white and color, silent. Splitting exhibition catalogue based upon artists book by mattaclark, produced in conjunction with exhibition held november 20 december 15, 1990.
From march to june 1974, mattaclark used a chain saw to bisect a new jersey house scheduled for demolition. It is worth noting that matta clarks splitting was produced a year after the publication of a book with the same name, splitting. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. Urban alchemygordon mattaclark opens october 30, 2009, at the pulitzer foundation for the arts. When writing about splitting, mattaclark also gave the house its. The 10 years of gordon mattaclark, a show curated by wigley, opened in shanghai with a new book, inviting a new community to encounter mattaclarks work. Four corners 1974 322 humphrey street, englewood, new jersey courtesy of david zwirner, ny and the estate of gordon matta clark.
Dec 15, 2012 splitting gordon mattaclark carolina borges sacoto. The gordon mattaclark archive is held at the canadian centre for architecture in montreal, and includes the artists personal correspondence, notebooks, drawings, photographs, slides, films, as well as other archival material documenting his life and work. His body of work includes performance and recycling pieces, space and texture works, and his building cuts. The anarchitecture investigation is a detective story. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. Wigley argued that not only is mattaclark less understood as the subversive and complex artist he was, but he may just have been an architect. Splitting, 1974 mattaclark had a particular interest in voids, gaps, and especially abandoned space. Like the accompanying series of photographs, sketches, and an artists book, mattaclarks film operates as both a document of the performative event and a. Gordon mattaclark born gordon roberto echaurren matta.
A case of female masculinity, by the sexologist robert stoller. Anne clark, an american artist, and roberto matta, a chilean surrealist. His famed building cuts involved carefully cleaving through part or all of an abandoned structure, removing. Original photograph in the collection of sfmoma there is a melancholy and nostalgia that pervades mattaclarks fragments of walls, floors, cutthrough spaces or domestic interiors opened to the outside. This film documents the major building cut made by mattaclark in a house on humphrey street in englewood, new jersey. Information from wikipedia, made available under the creative commons attributionsharealike license. Crows groundbreaking essay is followed by christian kravagnas discussion of matta clark s use of photography and film and judith russi kirshners essay on the artists urban sensibility. Find an indepth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices.
Houses that the artist carved with a power saw commented on the american citys decay. For splitting 1974, mattaclark carved through the various floors of a typical suburban house in new jersey, splitting it in two. Reprint made by the estate of gordon mattaclark from mattaclark negatives. American artist gordon mattaclark is perhaps best known for the sitespecific artworks he made in the 1970s. A vertical slice now separated an old frame house in new jersey, owned by new york art dealer holly solomon.
Splitting consists of photographic documentation of mattaclarks splitting 1974, in which the artist made an incision down the center of a new jersey house that had been slated for demolition, and then removed all four corners of the houses eaves. Bessa and fiores gordon mattaclark, anarchitect new haven. Gordon mattaclark splitting, cutting, writing, drawing. Contrasting the hypervisibility of anarchitecture groups leader, gordon mattaclark, and his canonical work, splitting, with the near invisibility of anarchitecture, this book takes various mattaclark archives, including the ccas holdings, as its point of departure and follows the traces of the exhibition. Feb 23, 2007 mattaclarks father was the chilean surrealist roberto matta. Jan 26, 2015 mattaclark understood the psychic power of buildings over people. Splitting the humphrey street building, avalanche, new york, december 1974. This revealing book looks at the groundbreaking work of gordon mattaclark 19431978, whose socially conscious practice blurred the boundaries between contemporary art and architecture. Mark wigley on why gordon mattaclark matters common edge. Nov 15, 2017 gordon matta clark was intensely political. Thus the roof cut at a whole house genoa, 1973, the cut of splitting, 1974, and the facade removal of bingo all involve a discussion with architecture that in mattaclarks words might have taken place in rowes seminar but that gain significance as practice when developed as material interventions on the structures themselves. Gordan mattaclarks legacy comes home to roost in the bronx. You are the measure, a retrospective of gordon mattaclark, is held at the whitney museum in new york from february 22 to june 7, 2007. Bronx museum of the arts in association with yale university press, 2017 was published in conjunction with the exhibition at the bronx museum and, more than any other book on the artist, explores the political and social vision underlying his work.
His body of work includes performance and recycling. June 22, 1943 august 27, 1978 was an american artist best known for his sitespecific artworks he made in the 1970s. Gordon mattaclark was born in new york in 1948 and died in new york in 1978. Anarchitect exhibition and catalogue are made possible by the henry luce foundation, national endowment for the arts, graham foundation for advanced studies in the fine arts, blue rider group at morgan stanley, david zwirner, estate of gordon mattaclark, and furthermore. Accompanying photographs depict the resulting work as a bizarre, vertiginous visual experience. This comprehensive book incorporates important new information from the mattaclark archive, presenting a compelling reappraisal of the unique beauty and radical nature of mattaclarks punnings, plans, performances, and interventions evident in the many media in which he worked. Starting in the summer of 1973, artist gordon mattaclark purchased fifteen lots in the city of new york, fourteen in queens and one in staten island. Gordon matta clark, scion and rebel, died at 35 in 1978 and has since become a cult figure of latetwentiethcentury art. The placement of mattaclarks work in the building by tadao ando offers the means to recall the artists lost interventions. This splitting implied both a rupturing of the fabric of domestic space and a liberation of the individual from suburban isolation.
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