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Lot Essay
Considered to be among the first conceptual artists, Anastasi's canonical works have influenced generations of artists and are in the permanent collections of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Well-known to art world insiders as the perennial conceptualist, there is a strikingly human vulnerability in the artist's oeuvre and method. As John Cage pointed out ''It's not psychological; it's physical."
Inspired by Duchamp's 'Three Standard Stoppages' (1913-14) and other art work that used chance, William Anastasi made "unsighted" work - the Blind drawings (in the early 60s) and Pocket drawings (late 60s). These led to the Subway Drawings of 1968 and the late 70s (and onwards): In the late 70's he reinvestigated the Subway Drawings riding to and from daily chess games with John Cage.
Sitting with a pencil in each hand and a drawing board on his lap, his elbows at an angle of 90 degrees, his shoulders away from the back rest, Anastasi was operating as a seismograph, allowing the rhythm of the moving train - its starts, stops and turns, accelerations and decelerations, to be transformed into lines on paper.
Inspired by Duchamp's 'Three Standard Stoppages' (1913-14) and other art work that used chance, William Anastasi made "unsighted" work - the Blind drawings (in the early 60s) and Pocket drawings (late 60s). These led to the Subway Drawings of 1968 and the late 70s (and onwards): In the late 70's he reinvestigated the Subway Drawings riding to and from daily chess games with John Cage.
Sitting with a pencil in each hand and a drawing board on his lap, his elbows at an angle of 90 degrees, his shoulders away from the back rest, Anastasi was operating as a seismograph, allowing the rhythm of the moving train - its starts, stops and turns, accelerations and decelerations, to be transformed into lines on paper.