The first major monograph focusing on the drawings of the renowned American Pop artist and conceptualist. ‘Richard Artschwager: Into the Desert’ meditates on the intimate and influential relationship between the artist’s drawing and practice as both a painter and a sculptor. Artschwager is most known for his use of painting and sculpture in exploring Pop art, Conceptual art, Minimalism and even Surrealism, however drawing as a medium was always close to Artschwager’s heart and integral to his work. Artschwager, believing himself to be a poor draftsman, returned to study drawing in his 70s, and it is this later period of the artist’s practice that ‘Into the Desert’ focuses in on. Featuring works produced between 2003 and 2012 alongside archival imagery of Artschwager at work in his studio, this ambitious new book contextualises Artschwager’s drawings using details, images of his paintings and works from much earlier in his career. The book is prefaced by an introductory text by leading American art writer and critic John Yau, who has written extensively on Artschwager’s work and is something of an authority on the artist’s practice. SELLING POINTS:

Richard Artschwager, famed American Pop artist, conceptual artist and Minimalist is most celebrated for his practice as a painter and sculptor, although drawing was very central to his practice.

Artschwager made work for over six decades, and in this book drawings are presented from the late 1950s all the way up to his death in early 2013.

The book focuses mainly on works largely produced between 2003 and 2012, which have only seen very minimal distribution and are so far unpublished.

The drawings are presented alongside archival images of the artist at work, as well as detailed images of Artschwager’s paintings and sculptures which show clearly the relationship between his drawings and his other works. 170 colour and b/w illustrations