Ed Leffingwell (1941-2014) was an American art critic and curator. He worked at MoMA’s PS1 and wrote hundreds of artist reviews and essays as well as in-depth monographs on Lawrence Weiner (1942-2021), photographer Joe Deal, artist Judith Murray, Claude Monet and Jack Smith. In the late 1970s Leffingwell moved back to Ohio (where he grew up) from NYC to take care of his ailing mother. It was at this time that he began to focus on being a curator and went back to school earning a B.A. in 1982 from Youngstown State University and in 1984 an M.A. in art history from the University of Cincinnati. While in school, Leffingwell organized a number of key exhibitions. These included Lawrence Weiner’s 1984 exhibition Earth Stone Light at the University of Cincinnati’s Tangeman Fine Arts Gallery and for which a number of written texts by Leffingwell were included as part of the exhibition. The drawing on this card, along with the personal note to Leffingwell, define Weiner’s catalogue design for this show.

Lawrence Weiner (1942-2021) was a leading American conceptual artist, known for his subversive deconstructions of object and language structures. Though his writing was often evocative of conceivable action and material, Weiner was of the belief that the imagined gesture alone could constitute a fully realized artwork.

Early on a model was formulated with the aid of Seth Siegelaub and Robert Projanksy which allowed for the sale of Weiner’s concepts, with the new legal owner able to realize the concept however they saw fit. Weiner’s practice can be summarized by the contents of his Declaration of Intent (1968): “The artist may construct the piece; the piece may be fabricated; the piece need not be built; each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership”