Untitled (Big C) (Primary Title)
Richard Stankiewicz, American, 1922 - 1983 (Artist)
“At the root of a good deal of my work is a certain empathy with forms that I see around me. The shapes of things, when looked at attentively, resemble . . . the postures, attitudes and personalities of people.” —Richard Stankiewicz
Though often associated with Abstract Expressionism for their freewheeling, gestural quality, Stankiewicz’s assemblages of discarded objects also reveal Neo-Dada characteristics, including the irreverence, playfulness, and embrace of the everyday world found in works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
Stankiewicz took materials that, through decay and disrepair, had lost their original functions and gave them new life. While guided by formal concerns of balance and rhythm, Stankiewicz also welcomed allusions to human and animal forms, such as the open-mouthed profile visible in Untitled (Big C).
Contemporary Art from the VMFA, Muscarelle Museum, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, September 30 – November 15, 1987.
Paintings and Sculpture from the 1960s: Selections from the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection, Richmond Public Library, Main Branch, Richmond, VA, February 1978
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.