STRETCHER BAR DRAWINGS, 1976
First exhibited with Body of Work at John Weber Gallery, December 1976 - January 1977.
Originally a series of 16 works; 13 of the works remain.
Treating stretcher bars like any other material, Henry invites the viewer to look beyond the traditional function of stretcher bars as a support structure for canvas. By combining the stretcher bars with papers of different textures, the artist draws attention to qualities of those bars which are often overlooked: color, wood grain, dimensions, and even categorization in the commercial and manufacturing process. Yet even after observing these formal qualities, for Henry the stretcher bars’ function and history always overshadows the attempt to see the multiple properties of the material itself.
