Artist 24: Carl Andre

Carl Andre is an American sculptor born in Massachusetts in 1935.  In 1951 he was awarded a scholarship to attend Phillips Academy, while at the academy he received his only formal training in art.  After high school he briefly attended Kenyon College in Ohio, but dropped out.  He then headed to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to do his years of military service from 1955to 1956.  In 1957 he then moved to New York to devote more time to his art and poetry.  Andre started experimenting with found blocks of wood, sawing and carving them into very simple geometric shapes.  It was not until Andre was in his 30s that he had any of his sculptures were exhibited publically.  In 1966 he decided that he had developed his sculptures to their fullest extent and they would go no further.  There were two clear phases in Andre’s sculptures; his early work can be seen as sculptures as forms because he cut and shaped the materials, his next stage was his sculpture as sculptures because he did not cut away materials but he stacked identical pieces.  Carl Andre’s later works were pieces that sat horizontally along the ground and encourage the viewer to walk on his pieces to be able to experience them fully.