William Pope.L recreation of Allan Kaprow’s Yard at Hauser & Wirth, via The L Magazine
This week at The L Magazine I discuss William Pope.L’s recreation of the 1961 Allan Kaprow piece Yard at Hauser & Wirth. The teaser below:
A viewer’s first response to art will vary from exhibition to exhibition, but it typically begins at the art’s materials and placement. When I first entered the new Hauser and Wirth space uptown the question I asked myself was, “Why am I walking through a gallery full of tires?” As it turns out, this is exactly the sort of inquiry intended by William Pope.L, one of three artists commissioned by the gallery to recreate the 1961 Allan Kaprow piece Yard (Josiah McElheny and Sharon Hayes will recreate the public work in Queens and downtown Manhattan respectively). As Pope.L well knew, when the piece was first conceived, people didn’t question why they were moving around the tires, as the act was seen as a means of blurring life and art. In other words, the bulk of Kaprow’s audience were cohorts working toward the same end, as opposed to many of the casual viewers looking at contemporary art today.
To read the full piece, click here.
