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May 25, 2007
A ‘LeWitt' in Atlantic Yards's Path
Was Work by Artist — Or by His Assistant?
The NY Sun
By Katie Taylor
There's a new wrinkle in the tale of the LeWitt painting in a building set to be demolished in the footprint of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project:
The brightly colored painting, attributed to Sol LeWitt, on the wall of 644 Pacific St. in Brooklyn won't be around too much longer. The building is slated to be leveled to make way for the Atlantic Yards development. But the questions the painting raises about the artistic practice of LeWitt, the conceptual artist who died last month at 78, may be discussed long after the building comes down.
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Wall drawing no. 848 got some attention last month when the group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which opposes the Atlantic Yards development, sent out a mass email about the painting's distinguished legacy and imminent destruction. Even they seemed to recognize, however, that the situation didn't constitute an artistic tragedy.
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So the painting at 644 Pacific St. seems unremarkable — a typical example of a practice in which, as anyone who has taken a class on abstract art can tell you, the artist’s concept comes first and is supreme, and the execution by assistants is secondary. Interviews with Mr. Watanabe and Ms. Cho, however, have added a wrinkle to the story behind wall drawing no. 848.Asked by a reporter whether she had the instructions for the wall drawing, Ms. Cho said there weren’t any, but that there was a diagram. LeWitt did a diagram for the painting? the reporter asked. Ms. Cho paused. Well, he did a diagram afterward, she explained. In fact, she continued, her husband came up with the idea for the painting himself and executed it. When LeWitt saw it, he liked it so much he decided to bless it as one of his own.
Posted by lumi at May 25, 2007 7:19 AM