The minimal, sensitive and sometimes sensual gesture is the trademark of American artist Richard Tuttle (Rahway, New Jersey, 1941). With a minimum of ‘poor’ materials – varying from paper and cardboard to thread and textile – he creates wordless sculptures and paintings that speak in a thousand tongues. Those that don’t know better, would call Tuttle a formalist as it isn’t clear from the start which themes he touches on with and through his work.

His oeuvre, however, is imbued with the fact that art should be ‘nourishment’ for the soul. In the historic Vleeshal on the Grote Markt, Tuttle worked on a new, site specific ceiling sculpture that reflected the history of 17th century Haarlem as the Dutch city where the production of high quality damask and silk took place.