"Anarchism Without Adjectives: On the Work of Christopher D'Arcangelo (1975–1979)"

The recent revival of Peter Nadin has also prompted interest in the work of his frequent collaborator, Christopher D'Arcangelo, son of Pop painter Allan D'Arcangelo and an artist in his own right. D'Arcangelo's career was necessarily brief, as he committed suicide in 1979 at age 24, but his radically reductive work—among the first forays, arguably, of a subset of Conceptualism that would later branch off as institutional critique—raised questions that are still being asked today about the nature and purpose of art, and the role of the artist. Since D'Arcangelo didn't create much beyond textual statements and flyers, this survey relies mainly on oral-history interviews of people who knew him and includes a tribute to the artist in the form of a piece by Christopher Williams.