ABSTRACT
Pattern and decoration painting anticipated and in many cases influenced a number of artists who looked to architecture and furniture for inspiration, although their work was not particularly decorative. One of them, Scott Burton, was even included in a 1977 show titled Patterning and Decoration, and in 1979 he wrote a statement, "Decoration, Ornament, Pattern and Utility." Architectural sculpture was informed by a countercultural urge to carry art outside the precincts of the art world. It was also influenced by feminism. The work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude was of particular interest to architectural sculptors because it was closer in size to architecture than to conventional art; impacted on the environment, if only temporarily, as architecture did; and was made of nonart materials. Like Siah Armajani, Donna Dennis looked to vernacular architecture for inspiration. In 1972 she began to construct from memory or from 1930s photographs the false fronts of mom-and-pop hotels.
