Konrad Fischer Galerie

The Konrad Fischer Gallery is pleased to present Carl Andre’s „8 x 8 Cedar Solid“, consisting of 64 Western Red Cedar blocks, each measuring 90 x 30 x 30 cm and installed as a square of 90 x 240 x 240 cm. Small woodwork from 2017 and poems from the 1960s are also exhibited. With his Element Series, 1960, the American artist set the parameters of his oeuvre, thus fundamentally questioning the concept of sculpture that had until then held validity. Using identical pieces of wood of the same size, he assembled works in various configurations, later extending this procedure to several materials, like stone and various metals. He leaves the elements themselves, which were usually industrially produced, untreated. The works are defined by the individual material components and the space surrounding them. In a 1980 interview, Carl Andre described this as follows: “Twenty years ago I realized that my vocation was to use my materials as cuts into space rather than cutting into the space of my materials”. Carl Andre passed in January 2024. His work has been presented in numerous comprehensive exhibitions, most recently in the retrospective Sculpture as Place, which was shown at Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, 2014; Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, 2015; Museum für Gegenwartskunst Hamburger Bahnhof, 2016; Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2017 and at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2017.

Carl Andre, (born 1935 in Quincy, Massachusetts – died 2024 in NewYork) studied 1951-53 Art at the Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts First exhibition 1965 at Tibor de Nagy, New York. With Konrad Fischer Galerie he showed first in 1967 in Düsseldorf and continuously until today. Major solo exhibitions have taken place : 2023, Carl Andre, The Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Republic of Korea 2019 Carl Andre, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York 2017 Carl Andre, Sculpture as Place 1958 – 2010, Museé d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris 2016 Carl Andre, Sculpture as Place 1958-2010, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin 2015 Carl Andre, Sculpture as Place 1958-2010, Museo Nationale Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid 2014 Carl Andre, Sculpture as Place 1958-2010, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York

In October 1967, when Konrad and Dorothee Fischer opened an exhibition space in Dusseldorf with a presentation by Carl Andre, Minimal and Conceptual Art were virtually unknown in Europe. Many artists of those days, including Richard Long, Bruce Nauman, Sol LeWitt, On Kawara, Lawrence Weiner, Hanne Darboven and Robert Ryman had their first European solo exhibitions at “Ausstellungen bei Konrad Fischer“ and their work has been exhibited by the gallery ever since. Konrad and Dorothee Fischer’s approach consisted of inviting the artists themselves to Dusseldorf rather than just having their works presented there. This not only led to the development of an international network of artists, it also contributed to the creation of site-specific sculptures, paintings and installations. Daniel Buren introduced his interventions, Gilbert & George found a platform for their “Singing Sculpture” and Wolfgang Laib installed sculptures made of beeswax and pollen. New conceptual approaches in painting as well as photography were shown in presentations of work by Robert Mangold, Alan Charlton, Bernd and Hilla Becher and Jan Dibbets whereas Arte Povera artists including Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni Anselmo, Mario Merz and Jannis Kounellis were presented in the gallery shortly after the term had been coined. The gallery’s program was further enlarged by artists such as Tony Cragg, Harald Klingelhöller, Rita McBride, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Schütte, Peter Buggenhout, Alice Channer, Edith Dekyndt, Aleana Egan, Jim Lambie, Manfred Pernice, Wolfgang Plöger, Gregor Schneider and Paloma Varga Weisz 2007 Konrad Fischer Galerie opened an additional space in a former power station in Berlin-Mitte. The gallery is now run by Berta Fischer.