Wavy Brushstrokes (Primary Title)
Sol LeWitt, American, 1928 - 2007 (Artist)
“When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.”
—Sol LeWitt
As a shift from subjective to objective art making, LeWitt’s emphasis on the idea rather than the act or object was a complete break with the prior generation of Abstract Expressionists. With Wavy Brushstrokes, made three decades after his statement above, LeWitt maintained this conceptual approach.
Here LeWitt has filled the paper evenly and systematically using long wavy lines and primary colors plus black and white. At the same time, his use of gouache—an opaque water-based paint—suggests an intimate studio practice at odds with the usual “hands-off” approach of his wall drawings and sculptures on view in nearby galleries.
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