In connection with the 2022 exhibition Mel Bochner Drawings: A Retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, Bochner took part in an email interview with curators Kevin Salatino and Emily Ziemba. Topics include Bochner’s connection to the Art Institute, as well as his thoughts about meaning, humor, and drawing.
Bochner recalls his changing thinking about drawing: “At a certain point around 1968, the question for me became, ’Why not change the support as well? Must it always be paper? Why not notecards, or newspaper, or wrapping paper…? Why not any flat surface? Why not the wall or the floor? Are there any boundaries? Can drawing invade the lived space of the viewer?’ Once asked, I inevitably had to confront the question, ’What isn’t a drawing?'”
Read the interview here.