Rudolf Stingel

Book excerpt: New York-based, Italian-born artist Rudolf Stingel radically questions contemporary painting through his use of unusual materials like carpet, aluminum insulation paneling and Styrofoam. For example, for his 1991 New York debut at Daniel Newburg Gallery, Stingel exhibited a bright orange rug in the otherwise empty space. Conceived by Stingel, and photographed and designed under his direction, this volume presents images from Stingel's 2007 solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, with work spanning the last 20 years of his career. A highlight of each show was the entry gallery, clad in silver aluminum insulation paneling and lit by a crystal chandelier. Over the course of the exhibition, visitors inscribed all manner of graffiti on the surface, creating an amazing network of scrawls, scratches and patterns. Also included are Stingel's photorealist self-portraits and smaller Styrofoam pieces, among other works.