William Anastasi's First Solo Show in France at Galerie Jocelyn Wolf

William Anastasi, born in 1933, is a pioneer of conceptual and minimalist art in the United States, influenced by Marcel Duchamp and a friend of John Cage and Merce Cunningham. He had four exhibitions at Dwan Gallery in 1965, 1967, and 1970, then was not represented until 1986. For his first solo exhibition in France, at Galerie Jocelyn Wolf in Paris from November 10 to December 22, 2012, Anastasi presented two Still Drawings and five other drawings made between 2010 and 2012. Drop Drawing, made by dropping pencils from a ladder, emphasizes chance. Half Hour Blind Drawing, Burst Drawing, and 1 Hour Blind Drawing, reminiscent of Robert Morris's work, are executed blindfolded within time limits using pencil or pastel on paper, a ritualized process he has explored since the 1970s. Anastasi also reactivated older pieces: 1904 S.Ninth St., with bricks on the floor, evokes Carl Andre but is autobiographical. Displaced Site cuts a hole in the wall, shifting the viewer's perspective like Robert Smithson's distinction between 'site' and 'non-site'. In 1967, Anastasi organized the exhibition Six Sites, hiding the six walls of Dwan Gallery behind six photographic reproductions of those same walls. The review notes that the Galerie Wolf exhibition could have been as audacious.