A prolific poet as well as sculptor, in this instance Andre has (in the words of Rob Weiner, curator and art historian at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas), “designed the shape of poetry according to his own understanding of the word as a concrete module, similar to the squares of industrial metal, wooden timbers, or bricks in his signature three-dimensional pieces. His poems don’t always incorporate complete sentences, phrases or even associative terms, but use words sequentially. Shaped text functions as both pattern and poem—visual art and literature simultaneously.” And in a review of Andre’s 50 year retrospective at Dia:Beacon for the Brooklyn Rail, the art historian Barbara Rose took note of the relationship of his poetry and sculptures. “There is also a hint of, if not metaphysics, then at least alchemy in Andre’s choosing the material for his grid pieces from the metals listed on the periodic table of elements. His grid does not come from Cubism but from physics and the physical properties of materials. The use of the given as a point of departure is also reflected in his concrete poetry, in which words take on the function of stones or plates and are typed out in geometric patterns. The way Andre interprets poetry is to make the words physical, sometimes covering a whole sheet of typing paper with the same word that becomes texture rather than text.”
