Sol LeWitt: New Work (Black and Colors)

May 21 - July 25, 1999


Installation view. Photo: Gregory Benson.
"Sol LeWitt: New Work (Black and Colors)" features wall drawings and gouaches by the seminal conceptual artist (b. 1928). Continuing ICA's history of commissioning artists to create site-specific work, LeWitt has designed four new large wall drawings for ICA's 30-foot high and 13-foot high galleries.

Each wall features equal stripes of three primary and three secondary colors contrasted with more irregular shapes of black paint. In addition to exploring the dichotomy between the straight color stripes and the organic black forms, LeWitt uses contrasting matte and glossy surfaces. The wall works are accompanied by a group of 12 gouaches, dating from 1992-99, which feature color brush strokes and irregular forms. The dynamic, curvilinear, free-flowing shapes and compositions of the wall drawings and gouaches depart somewhat from LeWitt's earlier, more geometrically structured works.

LeWitt wrote in 1967 that 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." As a result of this methodology, a team of assistants, and not LeWitt, take to scaffolds--drawing and painting from the artist's instructions. Conceptual art downplays notions of authorship, touch, and originality.

LeWitt is also the subject of a full-scale retrospective, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, opening in February 2000. The retrospective surveys prints, drawings, wall drawings, and sculptures from this prolific artist's career, which spans four decades.

Curator: Judith Tannenbaum


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