Torso

Richard Tuttle sought not only to celebrate the use of unconventional materials, but also the role of the installation in the visual arts, introducing an element of what is not seen, as much as what is. In Tuttle's words, “If you're going to be a visual artist, then there has to be something in the work that accounts for the possibility of the invisible, the opposite of the visual experience.” (R. Tuttle, quoted in D. Albright, Panaesthetics: On the Unity and Diversity of the Arts, Yale University Press, 2014, p. 52).

Tuttle’s striking wall sculpture Torso establishes its presence with a vivid green palette and display of sequins. Its title encourages the viewer to anticipate the anatomical, yet its structure resembles part of a lush tropical plant. As such, Tuttle forces us to re-assess what we might be looking at, using non-traditional materials to think hard about our assumptions and understandings of modern and contemporary art.