An installation of nearly 500 drawings hung wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling, this exhibition presents an expansive and experimental view of drawing itself. Selected from private collections and from the artist’s studio are works in pen and ink; watercolor; gouache; acrylic; oil; and collage on paper, as well as original books and a special edition of wallpaper created especially for the exhibition. Installed by the artist at ICA, this exhibition exists as a work in its own right: temporary and site specific.

John Armleder (b. 1948, Geneva, Switzerland; lives Geneva) is a performance artist, sculptor, and painter, whose multi-faceted activities are connected by drawing. Affiliated with Fluxus in the late 1960s and ’70s, the value of ephemerality and notion that art is the conduction of creative energy are imperative to his work. During the 1980s, his “furniture sculpture” was highly visible within the context of New Geometry or “Neo Geo.” John Armleder is widely known and respected as the co-founder of the Group Ecart, which has been endorsing the work of artists (Christian Marclay and Karen Kilminik among them) since the 1970s through its publications, exhibitions, and representation at art fairs. This is the first major exhibition of John Armleder’s work in the United States. A highly influential, established figure within the international community, Armleder’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe. Although he is partially based in New York, his art and reputation are under-recognized in America.
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