German artist Palermo was among a wave of artists in the 1960s who rejected representational traditions of painting and sculpture, prioritizing textiles, wood, and found materials as his media of choice. He sustained a belief that art, and more specifically painting, aspired to mean more than the sum of its parts. Untitled, 1967, in Glenstone’s collection, is one in a series of “objects” that Palermo made during the 1960s and 1970s that invoke with acumen a tension between painting and sculpture. The piece incorporates many of Palermo’s key motifs, including wooden stretcher strips, triangles, and the use of store-bought muslin. Three wooden strips are wrapped in muslin and painted brown, connecting at irregularly leveled intersections so that the triangular “canvas” pulls taut into three dimensions.

–From the Glenstone Field Guide