Carl Andre

Carl Andre’s enigmatic sculptures solidified his role as a leading member of the Minimalist movement during the early to mid-1960s. Andre produces sculptures of rigorous simplicity by arranging unmanipulated found elements—such as bricks, lumber, and metal or stone tiles—into forms determined by the units of matter themselves and their surrounding spaces. His large-scale sculptures challenge traditional notions of the medium, expanding far beyond the horizontal plane rather than the vertical. First beginning in the late 1960s, Andre’s pivotal ground works represent a landmark moment within the development of twentieth century sculpture.

Born in 1935 in Quincy, Massachusetts, Andre’s work has been guided by a commitment to pure matter in lucid geometric arrangements. From 1960 to 1964, Andre was a freight brakeman and conductor for the Pennsylvania Railroad in New Jersey, certainly influencing the use of industrial materials in his work. Like Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, Andre was interested in systems, and applied this interest to sculpture. His work importantly resides in public institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.