About the artist:

A self-taught artist, John Willenbecher (b. 1936) initially set out to be an art historian. After three years of graduate studies at NYU's institute of fine arts followed by six months of travel in Europe, Willenbecher returned to New York resolved, instead, to become an artist. Seeing The Art of Assemblage, a groundbreaking exhibition curated by William C. Seitz at the Museum of Modern Art in 1961, solidified his determination.

Willenbecher’s earliest works were greatly inspired by Joseph Cornell, and those compositions developed into the game-like constructions that landed Willenbecher his first exhibition in 1963 at Feigen+Herbert, New York. Donald Judd, reviewing the show, said "The sorts of meaning Willenbecher is dealing with are interesting. Insofar as art is philosophical this is relevant, believable philosophy, which, since it is in the art, takes art." Like so many artists of this time, Willenbecher turned to the New York City streets and junk shops to mine materials for his “unknown games.” Painted in black, white, and shades of greys, many of the found objects that comprise the wall mounted, constructions are readily identifiable, like ABC blocks, Christmas tree balls, and wooden chair spindles. Willenbecher preferred materials “whose existences prior to his spotting them would still be detectable in their revamped state” as Dan Cameron has written.

Willenbecher was born in Macungie, PA and lives and works in New York City. His works can be found in the permanent collections of important museums including: the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.