1998

Sol LeWitt
Wall pieces
30 July – 29 November 1998
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

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Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of my involvement with public art is a continuation of wall drawings.

Sol LeWitt, ‘Sentences on conceptual art’, in 0–9, New York, January 1969

In his ‘Paragraphs on conceptual art’ from 1967 [LeWitt] says, ‘The idea becomes a machine that makes the art’ and refers to the actual construction of the work as ‘a perfunctory affair’. His combinatorial drawings and sculptures demonstrate the continuing viability of highly ordered systems in generative art.

Phillip Galanter, ‘What is generative art? Complexity theory as a context for art theory’

John Kaldor invited Sol LeWitt to make a large exhibition of acrylic wall drawings for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, which was displayed along with earlier works from John Kaldor’s collection. LeWitt’s work had grown bolder since his previous Kaldor project; it was more colourful and less cerebral and delicate. The wall pieces at the MCA were sponged on and layered in gloss and matt acrylic black and primary and secondary colours, like frescos. Sensual sine-waves undulated in ways that matched the architecture and lighting in the building. The elegant methodology and logic remained intact, but with an improvisational panache.

Read more about Sol LeWitt.

Installation view of Sol LeWitt’s Wall drawing #824 1997 (left), Wall drawing #825 1997 (centre) and Wall drawing #870 1997 (right) at the MCA, Sydney, in 1998. Photo: Paul Green Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney © Sol LeWitt, licensed by Viscopy Australia