Sol LeWitt

                                               Conceptual Large-scale Works 

                                             Construction According to a Rule

Another decidedly different use of the word conceptualism refers to constructing an artwork based on a rule.  A popular quote describing constructive conceptualism by Sol LeWitt goes as follows.

“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.”

See a large colorful work by LeWitt from the Mass MOCA museum. We start with this because of its immediate impact and its easy rule. Without being told the rule I think we can more or less figure it out.

First on the right are the complimentary colors red and green with a vertical wave boundary curve. Next, orange and blue with wavy horizontal boundary, then furthest right, yellow and violet compliments with wavy diagonal boundary. On the left and perpendicular to the colorful group is a large black (absence of color) square with white (all colors) border. Do you see easy ways to permute the colors or use a different diagonal to produce similar but not identical works?

As we will see, the execution of a LeWitt work is not really a perfunctory affair.  Large exhibits of Lewitt’s wall drawings such as at Mass MOCA – the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art take months of work by a team of skilled artists.  

Besides which, as in classical music, not all the music is in the score.  By which I mean the artists who execute the work have to use their own sensibilities and techniques to obtain the desired effect beyond the written instructions.  If you wish to see a work in progress, visit the Mass MOCA website, which has time lapse videos of LeWitt’s wall drawings being made.  Their website is so comprehensive that it is a good alternative to visiting especially because Mass MOCA is somewhat out of the way in the north west corner of Massachusetts.

LeWitt was not like the strict conceptualists.  He had more the spirit of an architect who wanted to see a magnificent physical work result from his plans. 

                            Two Large black and White Wall Drawings 

        Please look at a photo of two LeWitt white chalk drawings on adjacent black walls at Mass MOCA.

The drawing on the right, number 295, is made by superimposing elementary shapes ‒ square, rectangle, triangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, and circle.  Can you find each of them?

The drawing on the left, number 289 is more complicated.  LeWitt’s instructions say to start by making a grid on the wall.  He says it is a grid of 6 inch squares but for a large wall I think the drafters might choose larger squares.  

The drafters are to draw 24 lines from the center, 12 lines from the midpoint of each side, and 12 lines from each corner.  The lines are to end at some point on the grid according to the drafter's choice.  In the photo we can’t see the grid points.  They have been erased or covered by chalk.  Note that grid lines were never required, just grid points where the grid lines would intersect.  

Before they drew a line the drafters stretched a white string where the line would go and stepped back to see if they liked the position and length of the line.  So, subjective taste comes into play.  The drafters could choose to end all their lines on the boundary, but they didn’t.  In fact, I noticed only one line that ends on the boundary.  Should they have ended all the lines on the boundary?   How would you explain the esthetics of the line lengths and touching the boundary?  Recall a Mondrian painting we saw where most of the bars didn’t touch the boundary.  Does the completed work remind you of anything?  The center point especially seems like a point source of light.

You can look up the LeWitt wall drawing 289 MOCA and see a time lapse video of the wall drawing being made.

We will linger longer on LeWitt for various reasons.  His works have a 

surprising presence ‒ not sheer monumentality, but a combination of art and idea that excites wonder in those susceptible.  He has many fans or shall I say a following ‒ including me.  Institutions seem to have no trouble finding artists and artisans to make his work. 

Yale University Art Gallery displays LeWitt’s wall drawing number 786A.  It is made with chalk drawn on a black background.   Our photo shows the whole drawing but seen very much from the side.  

On the left side you see the instructions and the components used in the drawing.  Those are not usually shown, so Yale was generous to us.  The upper left text line states the content of each cell of the grid ‒ all two part combinations of arcs from corners and edges.  LeWitt is characteristically brief so we will elaborate below.  For just a discussion of the final result you may skip over three paragraphs. 

Think of a square.  Below the text description you see on the first line, an arc drawn from (with center at) the lower left corner of a square, then an arc drawn from (with center at) the upper left corner, then from upper right corner, then from lower right corner.  On the lower line you see an arc drawn from the midpoint of the right edge, then an arc from the midpoint of the bottom edge.

After that enumeration, we have 8 arcs available to use.  According to LeWitt’s rule, we have to choose two arcs to draw in any square cell.  A formula for combinations of 8 things taken 2 at a time gives 28 possible drawings in cells.

It is hard to see in the photo but there are 4 square cells down and 7 cells across.   Hence we have  4 times 7 which gives 28 square cells to fill in on the wall.  That can be done in a systematic way so you don’t leave out any or duplicate any.

Drawing the whole wall of arcs is tedious but what is the result?  You see those various arcs looping and interacting within each cell and between adjacent cells.  What starts out as an enumerated construction turns into a kind of arabesque of dancing arcs.  

To enjoy the overall look of the wall drawing, you don’t have to know the details of the construction.  On YouTube you can find many interesting time-lapse videos of LeWitt drawings being made.

                        

 

          Repeated Copying in Color

 Look at wall drawing number 797, made according to instructions by Sol Lewitt, as follows, in his own words:  “The first drafter has a black marker and makes an irregular horizontal line near the top of the wall. Then the second drafter tries to copy it (without touching it) using a red marker. The third drafter does the same, using a yellow marker. The fourth drafter does the same using a blue marker. Then the second drafter followed by the third and fourth copies the last line drawn until the bottom of the wall is reached.”

     

The drafters used markers which gave a strong, paint-like trail.  If a drafter makes a deviation of some sort, the next drafter has to copy it, and so the communal work continues.  The overall work has some special character as you see.  Chance and human perception is involved.  It seems surprising how it looks at the end. Clearly, every time this work is produced according to the instructions it will turn out differently. Do deviations grow or diminish?  It seems a bit like evolution.  Can you describe in greater detail what the eyes, mind, and hand of a copier are doing?