Rudolf Stingel

Rudolf Stingel was born in Merano Italy in 1956. His work engages the audience in dialogue about their perception of art and uses conceptual painting and installations to explore the process of creation. Using readily available materials such as styrofoam, carpet, and cast polyurethane, Stingel creates art based upon an underlying conceptual framework and challenges contemporary notions about painting. The surfaces of his two-dimensional works are characteristically carved out, imprinted or indented, visibly evidencing the artist's alteration of industrial matter. He is particularly well known for his 'Instruction Paintings' which were first exhibited in 1989 alongside a brochure in six different languages that spelt out the method of production, inviting the viewer to be part of the creative process and emphasizing the collaborative nature of creating artworks.  He is best known for his monochromatic paintings, on which he sprays silver paint through pieces of gauze.  His work has been exhibited in the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (1999-2000); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001, 2004, 2012); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2006, 2007, 2016); among several other venues. Stingel lives in New York and Merano, Italy.