Fred Sandback

Fred Sandback (August 29, 1943 – June 23, 2003) was a minimalist conceptual-based sculptor know for his string sculptures and prints.

Life and Work

Fred Sandback was born in Bronxville, New York where, as a young man, he made banjos and dulcimers. He majored in philosophy at Yale University before studying sculpture with Donald Judd and Robert Morris. He received a BFA in 1966 and an MFA in 1969 from the Yale School of Art.

Sandback's first one-person exhibitions were at the Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, and the Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich, both in 1968. Following this debute, Sandback exhibited widely his hyper minimalist sculptures and prints in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. His artwork was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennale exhibition of 1968, the Biennale of Sydney in 1976, and the Biennial Exhibition of American Artists at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1979. In 1981 the Dia Art Foundation initiated and maintained a museum of his work, The Fred Sandback Museum in Winchendon, Massachusetts, which was closed in 1996. Dia presented exhibitions of his works in 1988 and in 1996–97. In 2003, several large Sandback sculptures were permanently installed at Dia.

Sandback's yarn/wire/string sculptures define edges of virtual shapes that ask the viewer's brain to perceive the rest of the form. In that way his work can be considered visionary or imaginative, as well as minimal and literal. Indeed Sandback was fond of installing "corner" pieces whose shadows assist with this form completion process. In describing his work he stated, "It's a consequence of wanting the volume of sculpture without the opaque mass that I have the lines." and "I did have a strong gut feeling from the beginning though, and that was wanting to be able to make sculpture that didn't have an inside." [* [http://www.diaart.org/exhibs/sandback/sculpture/remarks.html Remarks on my Sculpture 1966-86 by Fred Sandback] ]

Fred Sandback committed suicide in his studio at the age of 59.

Footnotes

elected Bibliography and References

*74 Front Street: The Fred Sandback Museum, Winchendon, Massachusetts. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1982. Text by Fred Sandback.
*Fred Sandback: Diagonal Constructions/Broken Lines. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen. Hannover: Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1987. Texts by Carsten Ahrens, Carl Haenlein, and Fred Sandback.
*Fred Sandback: Sculpture. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, in association with Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1991. Texts by Suzanne Delehanty, Richard S. Field, Sasha M. Newman, and Phyllis Tuchman.
*Fred Sandback. Bregenz: Kunstverein, 1997. Interview by Joan Simon.
*Fred Sandback Escultura. Mexico City: Museo Rufino Tamayo, 2002. Text by Lynne Cooke and an interview by Joan Simon.
*Mark C. Taylor. "Apprehension." In Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art, vol. 2. Ed. Lynne Cooke and Karen Kelly. New York: Dia Center for the Arts, 2003.
*Joan Simon, "Art in America" (Brant Publications Inc., Gale Group, May 1997)
*Sandback, Fred, "Fred Sandback, Sculpture 1966-1986" (Mannheim: Kunsthalle 1986)
*Stephanie Cash, David Ebony, "Art in America: Obituaries" (Brant Publications Inc., Gale Group, Sept 2003)
* Friedemann Malsch, Christiane Meyer-Stoll (Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein), "Fred Sandback", Published by Hatje-Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, Germany, 2005, ISBN 3-7757-1720-X

External links

* [http://www.diachelsea.org/exhibs/sandback/sculpture/ Sandback Collection at Dia]
* [http://www.diacenter.org/exhibs/sandback/sculpture/notes.html Notes from 1975]
* [http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/353 Many examples at the Barabara Krakow Gallery]
* [http://www.diabeacon.org/exhibs_b/sandback/essay.html Essay on Fred Sandback by Lynne Cooke ]
* [http://www.diaart.org/exhibs/sandback/sculpture/remarks.html Remarks on my Sculpture 1966-86 by Fred Sandback]