Extended Drawing
Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman & Richard Serra
Until 15 January 2012
Bonnefantenmuseum
6221 KX Maastricht
The Netherlands
T 00 31 43 32 90 190
info [at] bonnefanten.nl
Extended Drawing focuses on a specific aspect of the work of American artists Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra. The exhibition shows works in which line and drawing are taken beyond their original boundaries.
The hand-drawn line is the most personal and individual form of expression in art. The execution of lines in a drawing is like a handwritten letter and tells a lot about the author. Whether it is florid or angular in style, people like to think it mirrors the artist’s character or inner emotions. The line speaks. And a drawing conveys a sense of great intimacy.
In Extended Drawing, the aforementioned artists have distanced themselves from these conventions. Personal handwriting is categorically avoided and they aim instead to attain the impersonal. Neutrality is the goal, and art is reduced to an instrument used for a ‘mechanical’ execution that allows the preclusion of too much expressivity.
Sol LeWitt takes anonymity the furthest. The fact that he opted for his work to be carried out by assistants (albeit following strict guidelines) speaks volumes. As does the fact that Richard Serra restricts himself to the deepest possible black (a combination of resin and tar), without any shading. And neither can the thick, almost insensitive lines of Robert Mangold be seen as a great expressive gesture. Mangold uses lines to create an imbalance that hides behind the apparently unruffled harmony of circles or ovals. Nothing is left to the imagination. No rules of perspective or other illusionist artifices are used, and every effort is made to avoid illusion or mimesis.
The way Bruce Nauman deals with outlines and contours is neutral and appears mechanical, even when they are presented in attractively coloured neon. The neon tubes flash on and off at a mathematically prescribed frequency, and the order is determined by a set significance of colours.
The exhibition occupies the whole of the 2nd floor of the museum. It gives plenty of space to each artist and enables forty large works to be shown, bringing out an aspect of their work that has never before been addressed in such depth. Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra are very important to the Bonnefantenmuseum’s collection, in which each artist has been represented by several works since 1987.
Publication
Extended Drawing is accompanied by a publication which is available from the Museum Shop.
Klara is Media partner of the exhibition.
Click here for more information about Extended Drawing
