American artist born in Washington. From 1941 to 1948 studied science at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. He moved to New York and studied at Amédée Ozenfant Studio School. Since the early '60s, Richard Artschwager has challenged our expectations of sculpture, furniture and the concept of function. His sculptures tease observers with their possible interpretations - prodding us to ask questions about what is real and what is fake. They also poke fun at the concept of art itself and make observers wonder if the crate sculptures are the art or if they contain the real work. Highly refined wooden shipping crates demonstrate Artschwager's training as a cabinet-maker and seem quite at home in an after-hours museum setting. They appear to be simple objects, yet interfere with our preconception of art and sculpture. Artschwager has been exhibiting his work in galleries around the world since 1959 and has won many awards for his work, which occupies a unique zone between the everyday imagery of Pop Art sensibility and the cool directness of Minimalism. He had his first exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York. He was represented at the "documenta" "4", "5", "7" and "8", Kassel, in 1980 he was represented at the Venice Biennale. In 1987 he was awarded the Kokoschka Prize, Vienna. In 1988 he was given a comprehensive retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York, and at the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, and in 1989 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. He lives in Charlottesville, New Jersey.