For Richard Tuttle (b. 1941), the object, and the work, is intended for communication. Where others find in history answers to the questions objects pose, Tuttle, instead, finds the questions that drive his art—asking us to think about what objects mean, and how. Richard Tuttle: What Is the Object? is the first publication to explore the influential American artist’s object collection and the cards on which he has recorded his thoughts about these items over the past five decades.

This volume, designed by the Belgian book artist Luc Derycke as a “book as object,” carries forth the challenging question of the meaning of objects. It includes an interview with Tuttle, an analysis of objects in poetic nonfiction by Renee Gladman, an essay about Tuttle’s art as the pursuit of a kind of philosophical exploration by Peter N. Miller, as well as poems by Tuttle and a short, surrealist tale about the artist’s objects. Tuttle’s objects and index cards are beautifully photographed throughout by Bruce M. White in this lavishly illustrated volume.

Peter N. Miller is Dean and Professor at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture

The catalogue is also available as a deluxe limited edition with silk ribbons, exclusively from Bard Graduate Center

The exhibition Richard Tuttle: What Is the Object? is on view at Bard Graduate Center Gallery from February 25 through July 10, 2022.