CATTELAN, Maurizio; STUCKEY, Charlie
William Anastasi: Blind Drawings 1963–2018

More than a half-century of drawings made through “unsighted” chance procedures, from conceptualist William Anastasi

In 1977, the New York–based artist William Anastasi (born 1933) began playing chess with John Cage. At that time, Anastasi was living in Harlem and would travel to Cage’s 18th Street apartment via the subway.

The journey became the perfect opportunity to revive his earlier experiments of creating seismographic “unsighted” drawings. With a lap-size sheet of paper, Anastasi allowed the movement of the subway to literally “make" the drawing.

The Blind Drawings: 1963–2018 were created using two-dozen "unsighted" strategies. With works spanning 56 years, this volume gathers Anastasi’s Dot Drawings, Subway Drawings, Walking Drawings, Pocket Drawings, Blind Self-Portraits, Waterfall Drawings, X Drawings, Eyebrow Drawings, Burst Drawings, Resignation Drawings, Drop Drawings and Still Drawings. [publisher's note]

Published by Marlborough, 2019