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Who’s Afraid of the New Now?

Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.

Who’s Afraid of the New Now?

1988

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Who’s Afraid of the New Now?

1988

Physical Qualities Color lithograph, Sheet: 560 x 351 mm. (22 1/16 x 13 13/16 in.) Image: 541 x 335 mm. (21 5/16 x 13 3/16 in.)
Portfolio/Series From the portfolio "Preview Suite"
Credit Line Women's Committee Acquisitions Endowment for Contemporary Prints and Photographs
Object Number 2011.71.10
Allen Ruppersberg is among a group of influential West Coast artists (including Ed Ruscha whose work is on view nearby) who by the late 1960s were redefining the forms that art might take. In 1969, Ruppersberg conceived an installation and performance piece called Al’s Café in which the artist himself manned the restaurant counter and served up plates of inedible, but sculpturally arranged food and objects along with beer and conversation. Since then, the artist has spent most of his career exploring language and the formats in which it appears, notably books and posters. Preview Suite combines text from miscellaneous sources with statements written by Ruppersberg. These are presented on the distinctive, colorful designs of Los Angeles’s Colby Poster Printing Company, more typically used for street advertisements. Phrases like “What should I do?” suggest an everyday existentialism that is reflected in Ruppersberg’s observation that “Art should be familiar and enigmatic, just as human beings themselves.” The vibrant backgrounds are also wittily evocative of the powerful compositions of mid-20th century abstract painter Mark Rothko.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2011; Greene Naftali Gallery, NY
Kristen Hileman, BMA, Contemporary Wing rotation, 1 May - 20 November 2013.

Inscribed: RECTO lower left, in graphite: "A Ruppersberg"; Lower right, in graphite: "1988"; VERSO lower left, in graphite: "AR.88.976"

Markings: VERSO lower left, LANDFALL PRESS stamp

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