Gordon Matta-Clark's Roving Eye

"Gordon Matta-Clark is best known for his "cuttings" of abandoned and derelict structures in 1970s New York, which made open-air sculptures out of symbols of decay and were seen as an early exercise in deconstructivism. Besides slicing up piers and houses, he also founded an experimental gallery at 112 Greene Street in Soho and Food, the legendary artist-run restaurant that he co-created with Carol Goodden and Tina Girouard, which, like the building cuts, blurred the boundary between art-making and life."

"He's less known for his photography, especially the extensive yearslong project of capturing the graffiti multiplying across the city and becoming a unique language of one-upmanship and community among young people. Matta-Clark may have felt some sense of communion with the taggers, whose rebellion against modern architecture and authority came out of the socioeconomic exclusion that defined their urban lives."

Gordon Matta-Clark created open-air sculptures by cutting abandoned 1970s New York structures, and he co-founded an experimental gallery at 112 Greene Street and the artist-run restaurant Food. He documented graffiti across the city in an extensive yearslong photographic project that treated tags as a language of one-upmanship and community. He may have felt communion with taggers whose rebellion against modern architecture and authority sprang from socioeconomic exclusion. A complete publication of his 1972–1973 photographs offers a comprehensive, almost cinematic archive of urban disrepair. His images drew attention from art and architecture historians and inspired followers exploring neglected urban sites.

Read at Curbed