Carl Andre, 1972
Marina Vaizey reviewed Carl Andre's inaugural London exhibition, entitled Sorts, for The Financial Times on 7 June 1972:
"Carl Andre is a self-confessed urban man; he has worked in the country, but he prefers to live in the city and use the urban detritus he finds about him. The materials he uses for his sculptures are wooden planks and boards, bricks, and pieces of metal. Often these materials are throw-outs, found on building sites, in rubbish heaps; occasionally he has bought or commissioned standard units like plates of steel.
For the London show, he collected pieces of metal from places like the Thames. He calls the pieces for London Sorts because in the process of making them one of the crucial facts was sorting out the weathered pieces of rusting, damp metal with all the ‘facts of their life’ apparent in their appearance, to see what would fit together […]
These are sculptures which depend on the traditional sculptural considerations: mass, volume, height, depth and extension; space and gravity. They are highly original works, both in the method of their making and in what they are. I found the transformation of industrial debris extraordinarily, touchingly beautiful. The sculptures by Andre are reduced to pure elements of structure, shape, line, form and shadow; the patination achieved by the vicissitudes of weather and time. These unpretentious pieces don’t shriek at the spectator, but insinuate themselves, conveying an amplitude of visual pleasure."
For the London show, he collected pieces of metal from places like the Thames. He calls the pieces for London Sorts because in the process of making them one of the crucial facts was sorting out the weathered pieces of rusting, damp metal with all the ‘facts of their life’ apparent in their appearance, to see what would fit together […]
These are sculptures which depend on the traditional sculptural considerations: mass, volume, height, depth and extension; space and gravity. They are highly original works, both in the method of their making and in what they are. I found the transformation of industrial debris extraordinarily, touchingly beautiful. The sculptures by Andre are reduced to pure elements of structure, shape, line, form and shadow; the patination achieved by the vicissitudes of weather and time. These unpretentious pieces don’t shriek at the spectator, but insinuate themselves, conveying an amplitude of visual pleasure."