Allese Thomson
IN THE DRAWINGS of Mira Schendel, text and image often coalesce over creamy backgrounds, as if the two should be read as one. The well-known “Objeto Gráfico”series shows letters clumped in thickets; in other works, they are transposed over each other or stretched out over a blank background—either way, they never spell out anything but their shape. This catalogue, published alongside Schendel’s recent retrospective at the Tate, is thick with reproductions of these pieces, along with lesser-known sculptures and installations for which the spiral frequently acts as an organizing principle: Letters whirl in vortices, knots of rice paper pulp into Lutz Bacher, Horse/Shadow, 2010–12, plywood, paint, ribbon, horsehair, pedestal with motor, lights, 78 x 36 x 1/4″. HOW DOES a contemporary artist take on the cosmic? Last year, Lutz Bacher dumped hundreds of pounds of smashed coal slag onto the floor of a darkened exhibition hall. She then planted black television sets and shattered mirrors […]