Presents with Secrets

Copied Charles Arnoldi, Presents with Secrets, 1980, wood, 969696 in. (243.8243.8243.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Gerald and Katie Peters, 2001.57A-D, © 1980, Charles Arnoldi

Artwork Details

Title
Presents with Secrets
Date
1980
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
969696 in. (243.8243.8243.8 cm)
Copyright
© 1980, Charles Arnoldi
Credit Line
Gift of Gerald and Katie Peters
Mediums Description
wood
Classifications
Keywords
  • Abstract
Object Number
2001.57A-D

Artwork Description

Arnoldi studied in Los Angeles in the 1970s, when art students were taught that "painting was dead." He felt pressured to do something new among a crowd of cutting-edge artists and found his answer on a Malibu hillside. He and a friend came upon a partly burned orchard where charred trees stood against the skyline. While they harvested fruit, Arnoldi also gathered twigs and branches to take back to his studio.

The lengths of wood reminded him of drawn or painted lines, and Arnoldi realized that he had found a way to emulate his abstract-expressionist heroes. He carefully plotted a network of branches to look like random, crosshatched brushstrokes. Presents with Secrets evokes a painting, a sculpture, a shelter, and a child's ritual of pickup sticks, and conveys a sunny optimism often associated with Southern California culture.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006