Educational Media Reviews Online

A painter and sculptor loosely associated with the Pop Art movement, Conceptual Art, and Minimalism, Richard Artschwager’s eclectic style and diverse materials make him difficult to categorize. Richard Artschwager: Shut Up and Look delves into Artschwager’s background and a variety of his diverse work. Growing up in New Mexico with European parents with artistic pursuits of their own (his Ukrainian mother was a painter and his German-born father an amateur photographer), Artschwager grew up with multicultural influences and a strong interest in looking at the world.

Covering the progression of his career, the film exhibits the total diversity of Artschwager’s work, and how surprising each new development has been for his admirers and critics. His work evolved from being derivative sculptures of functional things such as furniture, to monochromatic dots called “blps” installed all across the country, paintings of domestic scenes in black and white, to horsehair figures, to vibrant color paintings of the New Mexican landscape. One of the most interesting pieces discussed is “The Box”, a small oak cabinet with five drawers—the first one is a regular drawer with a bottom, the second is bottomless, the third with a piece of glass, the fourth with a mirror, and the fifth full of horsehair, one of Artschwager’s signature materials. His horsehair works, according to Guggenheim Director Richard Armstrong, have a slightly repulsive quality to them, and still others are subtly unsettling. These characteristics make the pieces all the more fascinating.

Artschwager’s phrase, “shut up and look,” was adapted from “shut up and listen,” which his then wife said to him during a concert in Vienna in the 1940s. “What it really means,” says Artschwager, “is I don’t know what to say.” Artschwager’s discussion of his works is all over the map of history and philosophy, making connections that wouldn’t immediately be noticeable. However, we get the sense that Artschwager intends his works to speak for themselves, rather than to make definitive statements about them.

Excellent photography and insightful comments from the artist and others make Shut Up and Look a rich viewing experience; however, the film lacks focus at the beginning, gaining momentum as it approaches the halfway mark, so viewers unfamiliar with the subject matter may find their attention wandering. Artschwager is a fascinating subject and the film does a good job capturing the breadth of his life and work.