Untitled construction, Dec. 8 1959

This construction was made by Stephen Antonakos on December 8th, probably in the 1980s. It looks like a collage, built from humble materials; cardboard, fabric, and paint scraps, set on a geometric stand of steel. It feels like Antonakos started with a specific idea, then let the materials lead him elsewhere. I can see him wrestling with composition and texture, the tension between flat planes and the bulgy bits of the material itself. What does it mean when he introduces real fabric, not just painted fabric? I can see a dance between control and chance, a visual language that speaks to the transient nature of thought. I think of Kurt Schwitters and the early collagists but also the Arte Povera artists who took discarded materials and made them into profound statements about value. Artists are always in conversation, riffing off of one another, finding new ways to make meaning with whatever is at hand. It's up to us, the viewers, to listen to what they're saying.