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Lot Essay
“When an artist uses a multiple modular method he usually chooses a simple and readily available form. The form itself is of very limited importance; it becomes the grammar for the total work. In fact, it is best that the basic unit be deliberately uninteresting so that it may more easily become an intrinsic part of the entire work. Using complex basic forms only disrupts the unity of the whole. Using a simple form repeatedly narrows the field of the work and concentrates the intensity to the arrangement of the form. This arrangement becomes the end while the form becomes the means.” (S. LeWitt, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art,” Artforum, Vol. 5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83).
“The serial artist does not attempt to produce a beautiful or mysterious object but functions merely as a clerk cataloguing the results of his premise.” Sol LeWitt
(S. LeWitt, via www.moma.org/learn, [accessed 4/17/18]).
Sol LeWitt’s modular sculptures such as ABCD 7 are the embodiment of the artist’s innovations in the field of Conceptual and Minimalist art, and are now widely regarded as among the first iconic works of the genre. LeWitt and his contemporaries took a radical approach to art making, emphasizing the idea over the execution. Sounding more like an engineer or a mathematician than an artist, LeWitt explained, “When an artist uses a multiple modular method he usually chooses a simple and readily available form” he said, “The form itself is of very limited importance; it becomes the grammar for the total work. In fact, it is best that the basic unit be deliberately uninteresting so that it may more easily become an intrinsic part of the entire work. Using complex basic forms only disrupts the unity of the whole. Using a simple form repeatedly narrows the field of the work and concentrates the intensity to the arrangement of the form. This arrangement becomes the end while the form becomes the means” (S. LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum, Vol. V, No. 10, June 1967. P. 80).
“The serial artist does not attempt to produce a beautiful or mysterious object but functions merely as a clerk cataloguing the results of his premise.” Sol LeWitt
(S. LeWitt, via www.moma.org/learn, [accessed 4/17/18]).
Sol LeWitt’s modular sculptures such as ABCD 7 are the embodiment of the artist’s innovations in the field of Conceptual and Minimalist art, and are now widely regarded as among the first iconic works of the genre. LeWitt and his contemporaries took a radical approach to art making, emphasizing the idea over the execution. Sounding more like an engineer or a mathematician than an artist, LeWitt explained, “When an artist uses a multiple modular method he usually chooses a simple and readily available form” he said, “The form itself is of very limited importance; it becomes the grammar for the total work. In fact, it is best that the basic unit be deliberately uninteresting so that it may more easily become an intrinsic part of the entire work. Using complex basic forms only disrupts the unity of the whole. Using a simple form repeatedly narrows the field of the work and concentrates the intensity to the arrangement of the form. This arrangement becomes the end while the form becomes the means” (S. LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum, Vol. V, No. 10, June 1967. P. 80).