Placed According to the Laws of Chance (Arches)

Description

The tension of negative and positive shapes reflects Arp’s interest in composing works made with pieces of torn paper. This element of chance or randomness in the shapes of freely torn paper, which was so integral to the Surrealists’ rejection of rationality and control, can be seen as a motivating force behind Arp’s prints. The artist described the transition from his cut to torn paper collages, "Not only had I accepted it [the element of transience], I had even welcomed transience into my work as it was coming into being. These torn pictures, these papiers déchirés brought me closer to a faith in things other than earthly. . . . I believe that they represent the transition from abstract painting to ‘liberated painting,’ as I should like to call the new American painting."
This portfolio was published by the gallerist Curt Valentin.
Label copy from exhibition "Dreamscapes: The Surrealist Landscape," August 22 - October 25, 1998