The tragic story of Ana Mendieta and Carl Andre
Carle Andre has been dubbed “the O.J. Simpson of the art world” by certain feminist groups who believe he killed his late wife, fellow artist Ana Mendieta, in 1985. In September of that year, 911 had received a call. “My wife is an artist and I am an artist,” an anguished Andre explained. “And we had a quarrel about the fact that I was more exposed to the public than she was, and I went after her, and she went out of the window.”
That Andre’s story seemed to change over time added to the controversy. When police arrived on the scene, to the 34th floor of their apartment, he said he thought she’d jumped to her death. “I just know,” he’d said, flitting between being sure it was a suicide and then raising questions about an accident. Mendieta stood at only four-foot-ten, and she needed to climb up precariously to open their sliding glass windows and, in the half an hour she was alone in the bedroom, it is feasible that she could’ve fallen by tragic accident.
Her friends have long doubted that theory, however, citing a fear of heights that stopped her from going near the windows anyway. Aside from Andre’s testimony, only a doorman could offer any kind of statement as to what went on. He claimed to have heard screams of “no, no, no!” before she plummeted to her death. Both Mendieta and Andre were infamous figures in New York’s art scene, both for their work and their explosive drunken fights.
Mendieta’s work sat at an intersection between feminist and earth art. In her performance pieces, she often fused her own body with natural materials like blood and leaves to instigate conversation about gendered violence. A lot of her work was shocking by design and was featured in countless galleries in her lifetime, but since her death, she has become more closely associated with Andre’s work than her own.
He was a minimalist sculptor, producing lucrative grid-format sculptures. Many of Andre’s doubters pointed out that when he was charged with Mendieta’s murder, it was often collectors and gallerists who leapt to his defence, all of whom had previously benefitted from their collaborations.
The same night Andre made the 911 call, he was charged with second-degree murder. He chose to appear before a judge with no jury and was acquitted of all charges relating to his late wife’s death. In the years since, the controversy didn’t quell, and museums showing his work were often at the centre of protests. In 2017, his opening at The Geffen Contemporary was protested. A passionate group who believed he killed Mendieta handed round postcards that read: “Carl Andre is at MOCA Geffen. ¿Dónde está Ana Mendieta?”.
It translated to: “Where is Ana Mendieta?”