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Reading Response
Sol LeWitt in his discourse Wall Drawing no.541 notes that in conceptual art a concept or idea is the basis of artistic work. He referred to the importance of planning and decision-making in conceptual art, such that the idea morphs into a process that makes artwork. I addition this was also part of a response to the subjectivity arguments in Abstract Expressionism, with conceptual art moving towards objective strategies in making of art (Merleau-Ponty and Lefort 33). LeWitt noted that such a process utilized systems that would generate artworks whereby predetermined mathematical calculations influence the composition and sequence. The Wall Drawings that LeWitt embarked to develop in the year 1968 illustrate the interest by he artist in objective and systematic development of artwork.
Sol LeWitt
utilized ratios, lines, patterns, permutations and formulas develop his wall
paintings and modern structures. It is apparent that LeWitt was focused on
objectivity in his works rather than subjectivity (Lewitt 25). Lewitt utilized
permutations within his various conceptual plans with an aim of enhancing and extending
his ideas beyond their limits. Using permutations, he was able to expand objectively.
He also claimed that planning and decision-making was a sure means of ensuring
that he avoided subjectivity in his drawings and architectural works. using an
elaborate plan, it would be relatively easy to design the work resulting in the
finite or infinite plans. In both incidences, each individual artist would be
provided with an opportunity to make selection of the basic rules and forms
that would govern the art process and more so the development of appropriate solutions
to existing problems. It is apparent that LeWitt valued mathematical
calculations and geometry over subjectivity in his claims that planning enabled
him to avoid becoming subjective.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Terry, Paul Maenz, and Gerd . Vries. Art & Language. Schauberg: M. DuMont, 1972. Print.
Lewitt, S. “Sentences on Conceptual Art.” Archis. (2004): 25-27. Print.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, and Claude Lefort. The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working Notes. Evanston Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1968. Print.