Vito Acconci
20 Foot Ladder for Any Size Wall, 1979-81
Photoetching on Eight Sheets of Paper, Printed in Grey
Image Size: 244 x 43"
Paper Size: Each 30-1/2 x 43"
Edition 15
Printer: Nancy Anello
Publisher: Crown Point Press
Price: $10,000
* Edition sold out
Prices and availability subject to change
Ladder For Any Size Wall is an ambitious and complex work by Vito Acconci. It is a complete, portable installation piece for three walls of any room. It was begun in 1979 just after Acconci had done a work called “Wall Drawing” at P.S. 1 in which he used actual ladders to create a “drawing” on a wall. Also around that time, he made “Peoplemobile,” an installation that unfolded from a truck which traveled around Holland stopping in city squares. The issues of “wall” and of “portability” were very much in the artist’s mind. In fact, Acconci has pointed out that (apart from the “Wall Drawing”) his prints are his only wall works that are primary; his drawings and photo pieces always refer to and are based on his installations or performances.
This print is produced by photo-etching. In fact, this print took 2 years to complete because of the difficulty of working in this process on this scale and still producing work of Crown Point Press’ customary quality and impact. These images were photographed from a real ladder. The precision of the etching process is capable of this kind of enlargement without losing the strength of the image; the half-tone dots which carry the detail are so fine as to be virtually invisible.
Acconci has often spoken of art as being “this kind of instrument in the world.” He has said, “in these prints, I want each of the images to act as potential instruments for use…ladder to climb, wing to fly, flag to wave.” To Acconci, the usefulness of a ladder is to escape. A 1979 piece using ladders in the stairwell at the Whitney Museum is titled “Tonight We Escape From New York.” 20-ft. Ladder For Any Size Wall is silver-grey on an expanse of white paper—8 sheets each framed with a thin line of aluminum. It is full of shimmering light and in our installation in Oakland where the high ceiling allows the ladder its full height on the wall, you almost expect to see the pearly gates opening above it. In a more normal room the ladder climbs the wall, then continues on the ceiling, giving a slightly different metaphorical content.