Gordon Matta-Clark
Oct 21 – Nov 10, 1972

Matta papered a gallery wall with soft colored silkscreened images of the exposed walls in wrecked buildings. He also exhibited photographs of holes that he had cut out from walls and floors of buildings. Some of these cut-out wall sections were also displayed in the space, including one from Food Restaurant. [Food, located a block away from 112, was started by Caroline Goodden with help from Matta, Tina Girouard, Suzanne Harris, Rachel Lew and many other artists who frequented 112.] Caroline Goodden recalls, “This was the beginning of his cutting houses; cutting whole houses came right after this cutting of sections of floors . . . He never was as interested in the pieces as he was in the hole. The light and the lines interested him much more than the piece, which was simply documentation. He was taking something that was dead-looking and making it alive again.” The gallery show documented the fascinating spaces Matta had found and created.

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.