Multiple of painted violin with stamp additions
Multiples, a term used to describe small-scale, three-dimensional works of art conceived for and produced in relatively large editions, became an international phenomenon in the 1960s and ’70s. Often issued by the same individuals or organizations that published prints, they were reproducible, collaborative, and easy to circulate. Joseph Beuys described his multiples as the “vehicles” through which his ideas could be widely distributed, allowing his work to reach beyond elite art networks. A multiple, he said, “is like an antenna which is standing somewhere and with which one stays in touch.” The multiples on view in this case incorporate industrial materials, ready-made products, and text-based media.
2025
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The Art of Assemblage
Gallery 408Everyday objects, popular consumer products, and other nontraditional materials had become, Seitz wrote, “the language for impatient, hypercritical, and anarchistic young artists,” who sought to create an art that—in its subject matter, materials, and making—was closely intertwined with life.
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