Biography

William Anastasi is a contemporary American artist considered a pioneer of Conceptual and Minimal Art. As evinced in his series Subway Drawings along with his many site specific installations and sound works, Anastasi’s interests lie in meditation and everyday experience rather than creating aesthetically beautiful objects. Like his deceased friend and peer John Cage, Anastasi explores the relationship between the human condition and its recording mechanisms, through the mediums of visual art, sound, and experience. Born in 1933 in Philadelphia, PA, the artist moved to New York in the early 1960s where he became more preoccupied with Marcel Duchamp’s theoretical approach art making. In 2010, Anastasi was awarded The John Cage Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. His works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Art Institute of Chicago. Anastasi lives and works in New York, NY.