AMERICA DRILL, 1963/2003 by Carl Andre

Carl Andre

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3Red CutWhite CutBlue Cut

WEbenezer W. PierceIndian History and Genealogy pertaining to the good Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag Tribe and his Descendants1878

Ralph Waldo EmersonAmerican Indian History and Newspapers1820-18241838-1841

A. Charles A. LindbergWe1927SKenneth S. DavisThe Hero Charles A. Lindberg and the American Dream

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Paula Cooper Gallery

EXHIBITION:


202439- 630
42956430()57()
9:30 – 17:00
DIC

Taking a look at the poetic work of Carl Andre today reveals the importance of this activity within his whole work, as Carl Andre started writing poems at the age of nine, long before becoming the great Minimal artist that we all know.

America Drillis composed of excerpts from three fundamental texts of American History intertwined and entitled respectivelyRed Cut, White CutandBlue Cut.

Red Cut: Excerpts from Ebenezer W. Pierce,IndianHistory and Genealogy pertaining to the good Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag Tribe and his Descendants(1878).

White Cut: Excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson,American Indian History and Newspapers(1820-1824 and 1838-1841).

Blue Cut: Excerpts from Charles A. Lindberg,We(1927) and from Kenneth S. Davis,The Hero Charles A. Lindberg and the American Dream(1959).

The artist considersAmerica Drillas “a long poem the subject of which is three racial tragedies: the tragedy of territory as property the tragedy of person as property the tragedy of everything as property.”

These texts were typed by Carl Andre, who afterwords made them cut out in strips, and resticked on another sheet of the same paper. The artist inserted the strips according to the Gdel code. Therefore, at the beginning of the book, the reading of one of the paragraphs is carried out line after line. After that, every two lines, and then, every three lines.

The text doesn’t present any punctuation. The typographical choice of certain excerpts varies from lower case to upper case.

Carl Andre – America Drill by michle didier