Richard Tuttle

"Grammar
is work
a particle love How
do we know this if everything
is dark?"

- Richard Tuttle, a poem about Particles

American artist Richard Tuttle has considered the myriad ways in which light, scale, and systems of display flow into the world and make it better. His work engages aspects of painting, drawing, sculpture, bookmaking, printmaking, and installation.

For his 2022 solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, New York titled “Particles”, Tuttle created four individual bronze sculptural pieces, titled ON (Particle 3), OVER (Particle 4), OFF (Particle 5), OUT (Particle 6). These four works are, to date, his largest of his of this kind. The works reflect the artist's longstanding engagement with material as a method for construction. Each work takes its title from a grammatical particle - a word whose meaning is mutable and derived from context. The open and closed structures represent both the form of the particle and interest in the language that underlies it.

Tuttle visited UAP’s North American workshop multiple times whilst the sculptures were being made. Using original 2” x 4” timber models as patterns for the sand moulds, each element was cast in bronze, smooth sanded and assembled. As per the artists vision, no patina or protective coating was applied in order for the bronze to age naturally. The result is an openness of the surface, which breathes and releases a structure neither geometric nor figurative.