The Architecture of Meaning
A bigger section increases the number of perceptual references. The silhouette is repeated against a pencil grid, so now we recognize it as a graph, a way of structuring information. The grid pays homage to Agnes Martin, who often paints plain grids on bare canvas. Pat Steir once said the grid stands for the intersection of time and space.
In Looking for the Mountain, the grids are very different from the irregular drawn lines at the bare canvas edge. Those are marks, the first visual sign of our urge to communicate, as any mother can tell you. If the grids stand for a mental construct, the marks that surround them are about instinct and the desire to connect.
Color is also both systematic and instinctive. Sections of color bars evoke optical systems and the spectrum. But the translucent blue stain at the left and the delicate shading of horizon lines signal change and flux rather than fact.
Pictured: Pat Steir, Looking for the Mountain,
1971; oil, pencil, crayon, and ink, 92 3/8 x 75 1/4 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Richard M. Hollander in honor of Jean S. Lighton.
Part 2
Discussion:
Looking
for the
Mountain
(410K)
Get QuickTime
| Next Page |
Back to: Other Director's Choice Tours | Collections & Exhibitions
Home