In an interview Mr. Tuttle recalled a piece he showed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in the 1970's, which he described as "some paint at the end of a coffee stirrer, placed on a 40-foot wall." At the opening, after studying this tiny thing, an impeccably dressed man approached the artist and asked him: "Mr. Tuttle, do you have any idea of the cost of real estate in this part of town?"