WILL INSLEY
(1929-2011)
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC manages the artwork and archive of the estate of Will Insley (1929-2011).
ARTWORK
1950s-2000s: THE PROJECT OF ONECITY
In Will’s manuscripts, he defined ONECITY as:
… a labyrinthine structure buried in the central North American plains, spanning over 675 miles square between the Mississippi River and the Colorado Mountains. ONECITY is designed to hold 400 million people, and has very little to do with advanced city planning theories of the present or with the projected utopian golden cities of the future, but rather with the dark cities of mythology which exist outside of normal time in some strange location of extremity.
Insley’s map of ONECITY divides the structure into six different sectors:
(1) Abstract /Buildings/ - Religious structures found in remote areas of the country’s wilderness; they were initiated before the development of ONECITY.
(2) The Outer Fields - Stretches of countryside which are pulled into the center of the city by the building spirals of the Outer City.
(3) The Outer City - A chain of buildings composed of four spiral arms which contain a possible 14,000 building units devoted to city living and working.
(4) The Inner Fields - A 135 mile square of wasteland at the center of the Outer City structure.
(5) The Inner City - An empty building which is not connected to the practical network of electricity, plumbing and communications and is bereft of all utilitarian systems; it holds analogous properties to the abstract /buildings/ outside of ONECITY.
(6) The Opaque Library - Buried in the center of the Inner City, the Opaque Library holds the seed and soul of ONECITY. No one is allowed access to the space; however they may peer through the brief slits in its upper shell, which lets the viewer spy on the mystery. Some bits of information have been accidentally uncovered in our own time, and these pieces are viewed in facsimile as fragments of the Library walls.
THE EARLY 1960s: DEVELOPING ONECITY
In the 1960s, Insley created large scale modular paintings, exploring the meanings of the elementary geometric forms painted in bright acrylics. In the 2007 leading art publication, The New American Abstraction 1950-1970, Claudine Humblet writes the following on Will Insley's early series of paintings:
"The universe of fragments opened up between 1961 and 1963 with a multitude of cutout forms, flat shapes with four elements symmetrically arranged around a central opening (...) The shaping of the external form was to serve the path taken by art as "object". Insley's personal concentration in isolating his "object" from its context (architectural and pictorial) was to lead him in gradually, during an enthralling investigation of the inner field of painting, to rediscover the hidden significance of the "fragment". This became the sole tangible sign of the link between the "painting" (wall fragment) and architecture, the overall project of which was to be revealed only in the course of numerous stages inviting the viewer to decipher the secret meaning of the work presented.". In Insley's own words, "Between '61 and '63 I did my first series of shaped paintings, using cloverleaf forms around a central hole. My painting quickly shed all its "painting" aspects save its diagrammatic nature and moved into the mind in search of the source of its fragments."
As Insley moved into 1967, he started to consider the lost civilization. It is during this time that Will moved from his more painterly wall fragments of the early 1960s, to his 1968 Ruler Series.
Will Insley © Westwood Gallery NYC.
THE 1970s: DISCOVERING ARCHITECTURAL ABSTRACTION
While developing his late 1960s Ruler Series, Will started to discover the abstract /buildings/ outside of ONECITY. Through models, drawings and photomontages, Will numbered and captured each /building/ in wilderness. In his unpublished manuscript, Insley writes:
The complex formal vocabulary of ONECITY has its origin in a series of /buildings/ located in remote areas of the countries wilderness. A parallel can be drawn between their nature and mythological considerations and they could thus be regarded as religious structures.
Will Insley © Westwood Gallery NYC.
The abstract architectural qualities of the /buildings/ brought Will back to revisit the early Wall Fragments. In his 1975 series, Insley developed a basis of subdivisions subjecting the fragments to arithmetic progressions as well as mirror-image inversions upon which the form, interior design, and the color of the fragments depended.
Will Insley © Westwood Gallery NYC.
THE EARLY 1980s: ELABORATING ON THE ONECITY STRUCTURE
As Insley moved into the 1980s, he began to conceive and create ONECITY through elaborate ink drawings. Many of these drawings pull diagrammatic language from his school years studying formal architecture, while incorporating the abstract mythological visions seen in his abstract /buildings/ outside of the city center.
Will Insley © Westwood Gallery NYC.
THE SEMINAL WALL FRAGMENTS: THE LATE 1980s-2000s
After the creation of ONECITY, Insley returned to his vocation as a painter in 1986 with his series of shaped paintings in acrylic on Masonite combining pictorial material and the power of the grid. These paintings represent fragments recovered from the Opaque Library’s walls, in relation to understanding the mathematical and mythical construction of the greater ONECITY structure. They offer insight into the visual and metaphorical depth of ONECITY and the civilization, while detailing a relationship between order and disorder.
Will Insley © Westwood Gallery NYC.
BIOGRAPHY
Will Insley (1929-2011) was an American abstract artist who dedicated 50 years to creating paintings, drawings, writing, models and photomontages based on his investigation of a theoretical civilization and focus on its single metropolis, ONECITY, a labyrinthine structure buried in the central North American plains. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana and a lifelong resident of New York City, Insley received his BFA in Architecture from Amherst College and his MFA in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Over his lifetime, Insley never utilized his architecture degree in the construction of functional buildings, and instead devoted his pursuit to that of art through the abstract formalities learned in school. The detailed process of thinking, writing, drawing, and visually communicating his concepts, provided a way for him to challenge the role of the artist during the Minimalist, Conceptual, and Earth Art movements of the 20th century.
Will Insley has been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions in the United States and Europe, including a solo exhibition at Guggenheim Museum in 1984 and Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1971, as well as inclusion in Documenta 5 and 6, 1972 and 1977 respectively.
Will Insley’s artwork is collected by major institutions and private collectors across the world. His work is reflected in the collection of Brooklyn Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and many others. The Estate of Will Insley is owned, represented, and managed exclusively by Westwood Gallery NYC.
WRITINGS
Over his artistic lifetime, Will Insley wrote a comprehensive series of published and unpublished essays, reviews, and poetry on abstract architecture and his conceptual civilization ONECITY. In a similar vein to Insley's friend and artistic colleague, Robert Smithson, Insley chose not to publish all of his writings and poems during his lifetime.
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC has created the Will Insley Archive, which includes the type-written documents of this historic New York City artist and will be releasing his writings in several publications over the coming years.
In the excerpt below from his nineteen page essay on his 50-year long art exploration of ONECITY, Insley muses on ideas of the buried Egyptian Labyrinth (Hawara) at Arsinoë in relation to the abstract nature of ONECITY in time and space. This essay will be released in the forthcoming book, "WILL INSLEY," the first of a series from the Will Insley Archive from WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC.
EXCERPT FROM "ONECITY" (1980) by WILL INSLEY
"CITY
"If the Egyptian Labyrinth is buried in the past, its memory and few material fragment clues have stretched proof of its existence into our present. In this present, there are also exist fragments, memories and some specific measurements pertaining to another considerably more gigantic maze buried in the central North American plains. This structure of virtually unfathomable complexity and mystery crawls across the continent between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in a spiral 675 miles square. It is now identified as ONECITY.
"If the Egyptian Labyrinth can be located in its origin four thousand years ago, ONECITY cannot be so specifically located in any time.
"The simplistic reading is that ONECITY does exist in potential in the present and will exist at some precise period in the future, but the actuality of ONECITY slips away from normal expectations of our worldly understanding. ONECITY has very little to do with advanced city planning theories of the present or with the projected Utopian golden cities of the future, but rather with the dark cities of mythology which exist of normal time in some strange location of extremity. ONECITY hides itself in mystery and plays games in the tunnels of our imagination, rolling little marbles of isolated information bits from some undetermined source buried in the structure of some unknown span of time, to plop them out upon our present tables of investigation.
"Through stumbling accident, through cracks in the shell containing our concepts of reality, it is sometimes possible to enter those mental tunnels, forming what those of ONECITY refer to as the Interior Building, and slip to the “other” place. I was ale to do it once in reference to ONECITY. I saw only one interior space for an instant, hardly sufficient for accurate visualization of a structure of such extent, but I retained the essence. The large cavernous space was mottled grey and brown and dust filtered down in the dim illumination from a grid of light high up at the top. Part of the city building was above me and part below. I was contained as a bus is contained if you place it in one hand, palm up, and place the other hand on top, palm down, with light coming through the spaces between the fingers. There was a sense of things silently moving across the ceiling, down the sides and along the bottom in a slow methodical fashion following some irregular but calculated program. This is what I now remember of what I think I saw and I have been working from this singer contact ever since in the investigation of ONECITY, sitting at this end of the tunnel and deciphering the marbles.
"As the Egyptian Labyrinth could not be conceived outside the context of Egyptian history, so ONECITY is inconceivable outside the greater context of its particular time, be that time real or unreal, future or mythological. ONECITY is the natural product of a specific civilization with unique secular customs and religious beliefs, but certain historical events are first necessary to set the stage. My marbles appear to originate only from one moment in a time and indicated the situation only as it then exists. However, they bear fragments of a written history which suggest that at some time previous to the existence of ONECITY, cities as were now know them in the United States are in some way destroyed. There is cryptic reference to past great cities weakened by constant excavation, an increase of waste and filth, a sinking into subway sewers and ultimately a crumbling within poisonous black clouds. The cause of this situation is not given. Later marbles are somewhat more specific and describe a sophisticated nomad population shuttling between industrial complexes (presumably spared the poison cloud business) on some extensive circulation system. It is suggested that the ultimate result of this is somewhat chaotic and unfocused. The dream of a city as the historied symbol of civilization resurfaces. The desire for a singleness of focus results in the concept of a one-city for the nation’s entire population of some 400 million souls."
- Will Insley, 1980
SELECTED WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST
Statement in Barbara Rose and Irving Sandler, “Sensibility of the Sixties,” Art in America, vol. 55, Jan-Feb. 1967, pp. 50-51
“Notebook,” Arts Magazine, vol. 42, March, 1968, pp. 16-17
“Jo Baer,” Art International, vol. 13, Feb 1969, pp. 26-28
“Will Insley,” Art Now: New York, vol. 1, Nov. 1969, p. 1
“Will Insley,” Interfunktionen 7, Sept. 1970, pp. 76-82
[Untitled], Interfunktionen 8, Jan. 1972, pp. 90-99
“Dreamspace from Behind a Façade,” Interfunktionen 9, 1972, pp. 81-100
“From the Interior Building,” Interfunktionen 10, 1972, pp. 81-100
“The Greater Context,” Tracks, vol. 1, Nov. 1974, pp. 18-37
“Myth of the Horizontal Civilization,” TriQuarterly 32, (Anti-Object Art) Winter 1875, n.p.
“Abstract Architectural Space – The Empty Building,” Tracks, vol. 3, Spring 1977, pp. 110-23
“Seriocomic Sp(i)eleology: Robert Smithson’s Architecture of Existence,” Art Magazine (special issue on Robert Smithson) fol. 52, May 1978, pp. 98-101
“The General Public Is Just as Disinterested in Advanced Art as Ever,” Art in America, vol. 55, Jan.-Feb. 1967. (Reprinted in Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1978, pp. 217-19.)
“Site = The Meaning of Place and Architecture,” Design Quarterly, pp. 11, 1983, p. 12-13
GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
WILL INSLEY:
VISIONS OF A FUTURE CIVILIZATION
CURRENT EXHIBITION
SEP 8 - NOV 4, 2023
2021, MAY 22 - JUL 31
2020, JUL 28 - OCT 24
2018, SEP 14 - NOV 30
2016, SEP 6 - OCT 29
OFFSITE EXHIBITIONS
MENIL DRAWING INSTITUTE
2021, MAY 21 - SEP 19
PAULA COOPER GALLERY, NYC
2018, OCT 10 - NOV 3
ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY, NYC
2012, DEC 1 - FEB 2
LANDMARK EXHIBITIONS OF WILL INSLEY'S WORK
1984 Guggenheim Museum, New York City
Solo exhibition "The Opaque Civilization"
The exhibition traces the evolution of Will Insley's oeuvre from 1960s paintings to 1980s drawings of ONECITY, his labyrinthine architectural project conceived for an imaginary society. Through Wall Fragments, drawings, models, plans and studies, as well as a monumental floor drawing created especially for the museum rotunda, Insley elaborates the myth of a dark and mysterious civilization location outside of normal time.
1977 documenta 6 Kassel
dOCUMENTA 6 played on the thematic exhibition concept following the encyclopedic concept of the preceding edition. Manfred Schneckenburger, former director of Kunsthalle Cologne, attempted to rephrase the question about the position of art in the media society. Participating artists included Carl Andre, Vito Acconci, Arman, Diane Arbus, Eugène Atget, Brassai, Francis Bacon, Joseph Beuys, Fernando Botero, Margaret Bourke-White, Brassai, Will Insley, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Christo, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Andre Kertesz, Willem de Kooning, Marcel Duchamp, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Dan Graham, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Anselm Kiefer, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Dorothea Lange, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, Nam June Paik, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Ryman, Man Ray, Alexander Rodtschenko, Edward Steichen, Neal Slavin, Frank Stella, Richard Serra, Antoni Tapies, Cy Twombly, Bill Viola, Bernard Venet, Wim Wenders, Tom Wesselmann
1972 documenta 5 Kassel
dOCUMENTA 5, 1972 was regarded as the most important caesura in the history of the documenta exhibitions. Artistic director Harald Szeemann, former head of Kunsthalle Berne and freelance curator, decided to create an overall thematic frame instead of selecting artworks according to their individual quality. Participating artists included Vito Acconci, John De Andrea, John Baldessari, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Mel Bochner, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Will Insley, Chuck Close, Joseph Cornell, Robert Cottingham, Marcel Duchamp, Richard Estes, Gilbert & George, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Hermann Nitsch, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Edward Ruscha, Lucas Samaras, Richard Serra, Wayne Thiebaud
1971 Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Solo exhibition CEREMONIAL SPACE
The exhibition, curated by Arthur Drexler, Director, Department of Architecture and Design, included models, photographs and drawings of a project for an architectural landscape.
1968 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis & Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo
6 artists, 6 exhibitions: Larry Bell, Chryssa, Will Insley, Robert Irwin, Robert Smithson, Robert Whitman
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 - Will Insley: Visions of a Future Civilization, Westwood Gallery NYC
2020 - Logical Insanity: Drawing ONECITY and the Abstract /Buildings/, Westwood Gallery NYC
2018 - Mythological Elsewhere: From ONECITY 1970s-1990s, Westwood Gallery NYC
2016 - Foundations of ONECITY, Westwood Gallery NYC
2015 - ONECITY, Westwood Gallery NYC
2012 - Foundations ONECITY. Paintings from the 1960s., Westwood Gallery NYC
2010 - Will Insley: ONECITY Wall Fragments from the Walls of ONECITY, Westwood Gallery, New York City
1996 - Will Insley: The Drawings, New Arts Program, Leigh Valley, PA
1995 - Will Insley: Wall Sections from the Prisons of One City, Hanes Art Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1992 - Will Insley: Wall Fragments and Drawings II, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1990 - Will Insley: Wall Fragments and Drawings I, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1990 - Will Insley: Grids , Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York City
1988 - Will Insley: New Wall Fragments, Max Protetch Gallery, New York City
1988 - Will Insley: Drawings, Max Protetch Gallery
1985 - Will Insley: Drawings 1985, Max Protetch Gallery, New York City
1984 - Solomon Guggenheim Museum, The Opaque Civilization
1982 - Section Drawings of a Building from ONECITY, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1980 - First Drawings of ONECITY, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1978 - Pläne für eine ander Welt: Gedächte und gebaute Raumvorstellungen, Gallery Orny, Munich, Germany
1977 - Will Insley: Architectural Drawings, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1977 - Architectural Drawings, Protetch-McIntosh, Washington D.C.
1976 - Fischbach Gallery, New York
1976 - Annemarie Verna, Zurich, Switzerland
1976 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1975 - Allen Priebe Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI
1975 - College Arts Gallery, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
1974 - Fischbach Gallery, New York
1974 - Annemarie Verna, Zurich, Switzerland
1974 - Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany
1973 - Fischbach Gallery, New York
1973 - Will Insley, New York: Pläne für eine andere Welt: Gedächte und gebaute Raumvorstellungen, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany
1972 - Paul Maenz, Cologne, Germany
1972 - Buildings by Will Insley, Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1971 - Will Insley, Ceremonial Space, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1969 - Channel Space, John Gibson Commissions, Inc., New York
1969 - Will Insley: Space Diagrams, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1968 - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
1968 - Stable Gallery, New York
1968 - Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1967 - Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina
1966 - Stable Art Gallery, New York
1965 - Stable Art Gallery, New York
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 - Structural Abstraction on the Bowery: Charles Hinman || Will Insley, Westwood Gallery NYC
2018 - 50 Years: An Anniversary, Paula Cooper Gallery
2013 - Cellblock I and II, An Essay In Exhibition Form, Andrea Rosen Gallery
2012 - Towards A Warm Math, On Stellar Rays Gallery NYC
2012 - On the Bowery. Silkscreens by Cy Twombly, Robert Ryman, Will Insley, Robert Indiana, Les Levine, John Willenbecher, Charles Hinman, Richard Smith, Gerald Laing, John Giorno. Photographs by Eliot Elisofon, Westwood Gallery NYC
2007 - Drawn from Artists' Collections, The Drawing Center, NYC
2004 - Behind the facts. Interfunktionen 1968-1975, Traveled to Fondação de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporânea. Oporto Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona
1998 - Masters of the Masters, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1996 - Extended Minimal, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1995 - American Sculptors in the 1960s. Selected Drawings from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1995 - Alchemy, Procter Art Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
1995 - Drawing the Line, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
1994 - Off Balance, Artrax, New York
1993 - On Paper, TZ’Art & Co, New York
1992 - The Living Object: The Art Collection of Ellen H. Johnson, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
1989 - Max Protetch Gallery: 20 Years, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1989 - Geometric Abstraction and the Modern Spirit, Neuberger Museum, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
1988 - 20th Anniversary Group Exhibition, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1988 - Kolner Kunstmarkt, Cologne, Germany
1987 - Group Show Gallery Artists, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1987 - Selections from Solid Abstractions, Saxon Lee Gallery, New York
1985 - Geometric Abstractions: Selections from a Decade, 1975-1985, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
1985 - Between Science and Fiction, Fundaçao Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil
1984 - Dreams and Nightmares-Utopian Visions in Modern Art, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
1984 - Winter Group Exhibition, Protetch-McNeil, New York
1984 - Indiana Influence: The Golden Age of Indiana Landscape Painting. Indiana’s Modern Legacy: An Inaugural Exhibition of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
1984 - From the Collection of Sol LeWitt, The University Art Museum, California State Museum, Long Beach, CA
1983 - Abstract Painting: 1960-69, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, PS1, Long Island City, NY
1983 - Connections:Bridges/ Ladders/ Ramps/ Staircases/ Tunnels, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, PA
1983 - Painting and Sculpture , Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1983 - Drawings 1983, Annemarie Verna, Zurich, Switzerland
1982 - Post-Minimalism, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1981 - Amerikanische Zeichnungen der siebziger Jahre/ Drawing Distinctions: American Drawings of the Seventies , Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
1981 - Imaginary Civilizations, Tyler and Penrose Galleries, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
1980 - Pier + Ocean: Construction in the Art of the Seventies, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
1980 - Michael Rea Collection of American Art 1960-80, McIntosh-Dysdale, Washington, DC
1980 - Drawings/Structures, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1980 - Architectural Sculpture, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1979 - Art and Architecture: Space and Structure, Protetch-McIntosh, Washington, DC
1979 - Drawings about Drawings: New Directions (1968-1978), Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
1979 - Mind, Child, Architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology, School of Architecture Gallery, Newark, NJ
1979 - Indiana / New York, Washington Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
1978 - Inaugural Exhibition, Max Protetch Gallery
1978 - Dwellings, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1977 - documenta 6, Kassel, Germany
1976 - American Salon des Refuses, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT
1976 - Jahre Museum Haus Lange: Eine Retrospektive der Ausstellungen 1955 bis 1975, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany
1976 - New Gallery Artists, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1976 - 15, John Gibson Gallery, New York
1976 - Private Notations: Artist’s Sketchbooks II, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1976 - Drawing Today in New York, Sewall Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX
1976 - Art That Involves Words, Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1976 - Painting, Drawing and Sculpture from the 60s and 70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Philadelphia College of Art, PA
1976 - Fischbach Gallery, New York
1975 - 20th Century Drawings, Hawthorne Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
1975 - Drawings U.S.A. '75, Minneapolis Museum of Art
1975 - Works on Paper, Annemarie Verna – Art 6/75, Basel, Switzerland
1975 - Contemporary Drawings, William Paterson State College, Wayne, NJ
1975 - Labyrinth: Symbol and Meaning in Contemporary Art, Watson Gallery, Wheaton College, Norton, MA
1975 - Painting, Drawing and Sculpture from the 60s and 70s , the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1975 - Narrative in Contemporary Art, McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
1974 - Dealer's Choice, New York Cultural Center, New York
1974 - Art for Collecting, Akron Art Institute, Akron, OH
1974 - Art Now 74: A Celebration of American Arts, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
1974 - Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1974 - Drawings 1974, Anemarie Verna, Basel, Switzerland
1973 - Art in Space: Some Turning Points, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
1973 - Drawings 1963-1973, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1973 - American Drawings, New Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
1972 - Drawings by New York Artists, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (travelled to Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; University Art Collection, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Finch College Museum of Art Contemporary Study Wing, New York; Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA)
1972 - Grids, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1972 - 7 Kolner Kunstmarkt, Cologne, Germany
1972 - Making Megalopolis Matter, New York Cultural Center, New York
1972 - Documenta 5 1972, Kassel, Germany
1972 - Fischbach Gallery, New York
1971 - Willard Gallery, New York
1971 - Projected Art, Finch College Museum of Art, New York
1971 - International Frujahrmesse, Berliner Galerien, West Berlin, Germany
1971 - John Gibson: New York, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
1970 - The Expressive Line , Hecksher Museum, Huntington, NY
1970 - Documentations 1970, John Gibson Gallery, New York
1970 - L’art vivant aux Etats-Unis, Foundation Maeght, St. Paul-de-Vence, France
1969 - Between Object and Environment: Sculpture in an Extended Format, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1969 - Ecological Art , John Gibson Gallery, New York
1969 - Will Insley, Fred Mitchell, Steve Poleskie, Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1969 - Long Beach Island, New Jersey, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ
1969 - Simultaneously, School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1969 - Drawings 1969, Paula Cooper Gallery, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1969 - Drawings, Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Fort Worth, TX
1968 - Drawings, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
1968 - Drawings, Heiner Freidrich Gallery, Munich, Germany
1968 - Painting Annual , Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1968 - Cool Art, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1968 - Painting: Out from the Wall, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
1968 - First World Triennial, New Delhi, India
1968 - The Art of the Real, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1968 - The Weatherspoon Annual Exhibition: Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
1968 - J.L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit
1967 - Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture 1967, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL
1967 - Art Objectif, Galerie Stadler, Paris, France
1967 - Monuments, Richard Feigen Gallery, New York
1967 - Schemata 7, Finch College Museum of Art, New York
1967 - Sixth Biennial, Republic of San Marino, Brazil
1967 - First Kent Invitational, College Gallery, Kent State University, OH
1966 - Systemic Painting, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1966 - Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1966 - Art in Process. The Visual Development of A Structure, Finch College Museum of Art, Contemporary Study Wing, New York
1966 - Rigelhaupt Gallery, Boston, MA
1966 - Park Place Gallery, New York
1965 - Daniels Gallery, New York
1965 - Shape and Structure 1965, curated by Frank Stella and Henry Geldzahler (Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Charles Hinman) Tibor de
Nagy Gallery, New York
1965 - Benefit for C.O.R.E, Graham Gallery, New York
1965 - 25th Annual Exhibition by the Society for Contemporary American Art, Art Institute of Chicago
1965 - A Contemporary Collection of Painting and Sculpture Selected from the Collection of Eleanor Ward, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT
1955 - Behn Moore Gallery, Cambridge, MA
PRESS
2016 - Will Insley in Sol Lewitt's collection
1990 - 'Will Insley: Max Protetch Gallery" by James Lewis
1985 - "The Fragments from a Civilization" by Carter Ratcliff
1984 - "A Realm of Logic Insanity" by Maurice Poirer
1984 - "Art: Will Insley's Visions of a Labyrinthine City" by Vivien Raynor
1983 - "Architecture: The Arts" by Vicki Lindner
1983 - "The 60s in Abstract: 13 Statements and an Essay" by Maurice Poirer and Jane Nicol
1983 - "An Experimental Outpost Looks Back" by Grace Glueck
1980 - "New York" by J.L. Bourgeois
1980 - "Time and Space Concepts in Art" by Marilyn Belford and Jerry Herman
1977 - "Heizer's Circles: Insley's City" by William Zimmer
1976 - "Review of Exhibitions: New York"
1976 - "Reviews: New York" by Jeff Perrone
1976 - Modern Art and the Object
1976 - "Unbuilt America" by Alison Sky and Michelle Stone
1975 - "Exhibitions Abroad: Puzzles and Illusions" by John A. Thwaites
1975 - "Will Insley: Buildings / Fragments" by Donald Wall
1974 - "Art Reviews" by Noel Frackman
1974 - "Art Reviews" by Noel Frackman
1974 - "Reviews" by Peter Frank
1974 - "Austellungen"
1974 - "Review" by Gunther Wirth
1973 - "Pläne für eine andere Welt" by Heize Ingenplax
1973 - "New York Galleries: Language and Visions"
1973 - "Reviews and Previews" by William Johnson
1973 - "Reviews and Previews" by April Kingsley
1973 - "Reviews and Previews" by Douglas Crimp
1971 - "Reviews" by Roberta P. Smith
1971 - "Not for City Planners" by Ada L. Huxtable
1971 - "A Reading of Modern Art" by Dore Ashton
1970 - "Galleries" by Rosemary Mayer
1970 - "In the Galleries" by Gregoire Muller
1968 - "Modern Americans for Oberlin" by Ellen H. Johnson
1968 - "Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology" by Gregory Battock
1967 - "In the Galleries" by Jeanne Siegel
1966 - "Art in Process Means It" by Edgar J. Driscoll
1966 - ARTnews, "Reviews and Previews" by Scott Burton
1965 - "Reviews and Previews: New Names This Month" by Natalie Edgar
PUBLICATIONS
> It Takes One to Know One: Why Artists Make Ideal Collectors, Artnews, July 2015, Dan Duray
> Behind the Facts: Interfunktionen 1968-1975, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona
> "Will Insley: Max Protetch Gallery,” Artforum, Summer 1990, p. 159, James Lewis
> “The Fragments from a Civilization,” Art in America, vol. 73, April 1985, pp. 150-159, Carter Ratcliff
> “A Realm of Logic Insanity,” ARTnews, vol. 83, Nov. 1984, pp. 102-9, Maurice Poirer
> “Art: Will Insley’s Visions of a Labyrinthine City,” The New York Times, Sept. 1984, Sec. C, p. 32, Vivien Raynor
> “An Experimental Outpost Looks Back,” The New York Times, February 6, 1983, Sec. 2, p. 1, 29, Grace Glueck
> “Architecture”: The Arts,” Omni, vol. 6, October 1983, pp. 34, 222., Vicki Lindner
> “The 60s in Abstract: 13 Statements and an Essay.” Art in America, vol. 71, Oct. 1983, pp. 123-137, Maurice Poirer
> Time and Space Concepts in Art, Pleides Gallery, New York, 1980, pp. 57-78, Marilyn Belford & Jerry Herman, eds..
> “New York”, Artforum, vol. 8, Feb. 1980, p. 76, J.L. Bourgeois
> “Heizer’s Circles: Insley’s City,” Soho Weekly News, vol. 4, May 26, 1977, p. 21, William Zimmer
> Modern Art and the Object, Thames and Hudson, London, 1976, pp. 14, 79, 131, Ellen H. Johnson
> “Review of Exhibitions: New York,” Art in America, vol. 64, May-June 1976, pp. 72-73, Michael Krugman
> “Reviews: New York,” Artforum, vol. 14, April 1976, pp. 70-71, Jeff Perrone
> Unbuilt America, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1976, p. 138-40, Alison Sky and Michelle Stone
> “Exhibitions Abroad: Puzzles and Illusions,” ARTnews, vol. 50, Nov. 1975, pp. 78-79, John A. Thwaites
> “Will Insley; Buildings / Fragments,” Arts Magazine, vol. 50, Nov. 1975, pp. 70-74, Donald Wall
> “Art Reviews.” Arts Magazine, vol. 49, November 1974, p. 8, Noel Frackman
> “Reviews,” ARTnews, vol. 73, October 1974, pp. 120, 122, Peter Frank
> “Review,” Studio International, vol. 187, June 1974, p. 305, Gunther Wirth
> “Austellungen,” Das Kunstwerk, vol. 27, July 1974, p. 75, Gunther Wirth
> “Reviews,” Artforum, vol. 13, Sept. 1974, p. 81, William Zimmer
> Art in Space: Some Turning Points, The Detroit Institute of Arts
> “Reviews and Previews”, ARTnews, vol. 72, January 1973, p. 78, Douglas Crimp
> “Pläne für eine andere Welt”, Rheinische Post, October 6, 1973., Heize Ingenplax
> “Reviews and Previews,” ARTnews, vol. 72, May 1973, p. 16, William Johnson
> “Reviews and Previews,” ARTnews, vol. 72, May 1973, pp. 89-90, April Kingsley
> “New York Galleries: Language and Visions,” Arts Magazine, vol. 48, Sept. – Oct. 1973, p. 66, Rosemary Mayer
> “Reviews,” Artforum, vol. 11, June 1973, pp. 86-87, Roberta P. Smith
> “Pläne für eine andere Welt,” stadt Anzeiger, Krefeld, October 4, 1973, p. 1, William Zimmer
> A Reading of Modern Art, Harper & Row, New York, 1971, p. 39., Dore Ashton
> “Not for City Planners,” The New York Times, April 18, 1971, Sec. D, p. 22., Ada Huxtable
> “Exhibitions: Will Insley,” Architectural Design, vol. 41, June 1971, pp. 388-9, William Zimmer
> “Galleries,” Arts Magazine, vol. 44, Dec – Jan 1970, p. 60, Rosemary Mayer
> “In the Galleries,” Arts Magazine, vol. 44, Dec.-Jan 1970, p. 60, Gregoire Muller
> Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology, E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1968, pp. 58, 359-363, Gregory Battock
> “Reviews and Previews”, ARTnews, vol. 67, April 1968, pp. 15- 16, Scott Burton
> “Modern Americans for Oberlin,” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 110, June 1968, p. 356 (reprinted as “Four American Acquisitions,” in Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, vol. 26, Fall 1968, p. 31), Ellen H. Johnson
> “Reviews and Previews”, ARTnews, vol. 66, Summer 1967, p. 20, Rackstraw Downes
> “In the Galleries,” Arts Magazine, vol. 41, Summer 1967, p. 57, Jeanne Siegel
> “Reviews and Previews”, ARTnews, vol. 65, April 1966, p. 16, Scott Burton
> “Art in Process Means It,” The Boston Globe, October 1, 1966, p. 9, Edgar Driscoll
> “Reviews and Previews: New Names This Month,” ARTnews, May 1965, pp. 18-19, Natalie Edgar
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
The Drawing Center, NYC
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art at Cornell University
Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College
Ackland Art Museum
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign