Anastasi’s so-called blind drawings investigate the relationship between chance and mark making. His Subway Drawings, such as this one, were originally made on rides to and from daily chess games with the composer John Cage in the 1970s. With a pencil held in each hand, Anastasi closed his eyes and allowed the vibrations of the train to move the pencils across paper. As art historian Pamela Lee has written, the resulting drawing is “an object that expresses the physicality of its own making.” It was Anastasi’s custom to document these journeys on completion by signing and dating them, while also noting whom he might have been traveling to, from, or with. This drawing therefore has special meaning for Aardt’s founder, as the uniquely drawn record of that day’s voyage across New York City ties him both to the artist and the one-of-a-kind/broke-the-mold Wynn Kramarsky, who was not only his inspirational example and mentor as a collector, but a deeply valued friend.
