Carl Andre

Carl Andre is an American sculptor considered as a defining figure in the development of Conceptual and Minimalist Art movement. Born in 1935 in the state of Massachusetts, Andre studied art at Philips Academy, in Andover where he met the artist Frank Stella, who will have, with Constantin Brancusi, a major influence into Andre’s artistic career.

The reduced geometric vocabulary of his work and his ground-breaking multi-part sculptures whose pieces were not fixed but lain directly on the ground gained critical attention during his first exhibition in 1964 in the Hudson River Valley area of New York. From there, he began exhibiting regularly at art galleries in New York.

Carl Andre considers himself one of the first “post-studio” artists because he uses manufactured industrial materials that doesn’t alter, but rather arrange on-site. These common materials include square plates or blocks made of aluminium, nickel, zinc, copper, steel, lead, limestone, and wood.

His installations based on arithmetic and geometry attempt to invoke the pure essence of artistic form through repeating units. Carl Andre’s straightforward arrangements of factory-cut wood, bricks, and other raw materials changed the framework of how sculpture is seen and made today.

His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, The Tate Gallery, the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, among others.

Carl Andre currently lives and works in New York City.