Detail

Standardized, often industrially-produced, component parts are assembled by Carl André into simple, basic geometric forms. This use of prefabricated materials with their loose ordering of simple and identical elements within the work and their reference to the floor and gravity are essential characteristics of André's opus. The material stays what it is and does not indicate anything else. The equality of the elements also dissolves the hierarchy of centre and periphery within the work’s structure. This principle corresponds to the fact that for these sculptures there is no ideal viewpoint. The idea behind this is, above all, a radical turning away from the tradition of illusionism. Minimal art does not want to depict or portray anything, even in the abstract. It only seeks to set something down, to place it. The interaction between object, space, and viewer is the centre of attention.