In partnership with The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt project, RMIT Gallery is delighted to be displaying ‘Wall Drawing #123A’, the first Sol LeWitt wall drawing to be publicly displayed in Victoria in almost 50 years, generously loaned by the LeWitt Family and Estate.
“The idea becomes a machine that makes the art”
According to American artist Sol LeWitt, art is found in the process of creation.
Born in 1928, in Hartford, Connecticut, LeWitt was pivotal in the Conceptual Art movement of the 1960s, supporting the creation of a new aesthetic in contradiction to post-war Abstract Expressionism.
Unique to LeWitt’s work was the importance of the ‘concept’ or ‘idea’:
"All intervening steps, scribbles, sketches, drawings, failed work models, studies thoughts, conversations, are of interest. Those that show the thought process of the artist are sometimes more interesting than the final product."
His work ranged from prints on paper to sculptures (or ‘structures’ as he preferred), but he is most notably known for his wall drawings, and the specific set of installation instructions that accompanied them.
LeWitt’s wall drawings paralleled the proliferation of street art and graffiti at the time, and embodied acts of rebellion against the craft-heavy Abstract Expressionist genre. Drawing directly onto gallery walls meant that the works ultimately had to be destroyed. The wall drawings were defined by their specific sets of instructions rather than their physical manifestations, meaning that the artwork was able to iterate, evolve and grow with each reproduction.
LeWitt was constantly questioning, destroying and reinventing his practice. His work revolved around the knowledge that “what he defined he could later refine, edit, and alter”.
‘The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place’ is curated by Irene Barberis with Helen Rayment.
The Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing is generously loaned by the LeWitt Family and Estate.
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