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William Anastasi — Biography
| 1933 |
Born in Philadelphia, PA |
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Anastasi is one of the founders, indeed before the movements were named of both Conceptual Art and Minimal Art, which questions traditional readings of the object in terms of style or medium. Creating a new set of values by which to judge art, the conceptual artist asks viewers to question exactly what art is. Anastasi's work often emphasizes his thoughts on the act of "not seeing" and chance; the artist frequently blindfolds himself and limits the production time of his works.
About William Anastasi's Subway drawings.
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. This signifies not only the internalization of chance in a work but furthermore the phenomenological process:..."it is an art object that expresses the physicality of its making." (Pamela Lee)
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