Twice in two days at two different galleries I have encountered white, or almost totally white pieces of art.
This is “Untitled (Basel)”, 1969, by Robert Ryman (1930-2019) now on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Yes it is 5 white panels on a white wall. Before you scoff at this, one square similar to these sold in 2015 for more than 20 million dollars.
In the same room as the above is “The Rose”, 1964, by Canadian-born artist Agnes Martin (1912-2004). There is a pale pink colour to this one. The pink is made by a grid drawn by hand with red and black pencil, hundreds of red lines in all that “dissolve into a rose-coloured atmosphere”.
This is the view that greets you when you walk into the Olga Korper Gallery.
The art on the wall is an exhibit, “the laughter between two miles” by Ken Nicol. The pale grey pieces on the far wall were made with hundreds of pencil lines. Although the lines are in patterns of vertical and horizontal lines that aren’t quite a grid like the Agnes Martin piece above, the effect is the same. The lines are too close together so the eye sees it as a single colour.
In the example below, green, blue, and red lines make a design over letters. The letters are hand written (are you impressed? Do you care?) and they are “Sentences on conceptual art” written by Sol LeWitt and first published in 1969. LeWitt (1928-2007, American) is considered one of the founders of Conceptual Art. Apparently he once created something similar where all the if’s, and’s & but’s were connected. Here, the red lines connect all the art’s.
Text as a major element in a piece of art seems to be more prevalent these days, but that’s a subject for another day.
Instead, one last look at the Olga Korper Gallery before leaving – it’s a gorgeous gallery space.
as I walk Toronto 