Black, White, All Shades of Grey

Conceptual Art and Minimalism are represented  at the
Centre Pompidou-Metz with thirty-three Wall Drawings from Sol LeWitt. Chosen among 1200 drawings, they represent the early to late works from the artist, from 1968 till 2007.

The visitor is reminded of the technical feats of such an installation with a video produced during the two months it took to execute the instructions and diagrams from LeWitt. After a careful priming of the walls, the projection of grids are filled with pencil, crayon, inkwash, acrylic paint or graphite to produce a perfect result. A dozen people from the LeWitt studio, thirteen artists, sixty-three students from five local art schools, the manpower required to install the exhibition makes it unique. Each drawing is accompanied by a number, and detailed information concerning the medium, the location where the work was first installed, the name of the drafters who first executed it, the date of first execution and the collection to which the work belongs.The dimensions are not specified, they are site specific.

What about the visit? Like a walk through lines, patterns, designs, sometimes creating dizzying optical illusions, black, white, and greys, the exhibition becomes monotonous, an intellectual experience at best.

photographs by the author