Robert Ryman, 1976 Ers Are Part of the Image Whether Or Not They Are Used As Found, Or Altered Or Fabri Cated Especially
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Notes 1. Untitled Drawing, 1976, is one of four works commissioned for the exhibition Contemporary Conversations: " Drawing Now," curated by Bernice Rose at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976. 2. According to Amy Baker Sandback, Ryman's archivist, "Both the bolt and the fasten Robert Ryman, 1976 ers are part of the image whether or not they are used as found, or altered or fabri cated especially ... these are visual elements as much as line or brush stroke or color or panel or fabric support." Correspondence with the author, May 16, 2007. 3. Naomi Spector, Robert Ryman (London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1977), 1. 4. Robert Ryman , quoted in David Carrier, "Robert Ryman and the Origins of His Art," Burlington Magazine 139, no. 1134 (September 1997): 632. 5. Seven pages were purchased by The Institute for Art and Urban Resources "as an exhibition space for works made to fit the size, format and lithographic process of this magazine." Artforum 15, no. 4 (December 1976). I I Works in the Exhibition Midland II, 1976 National/, 1976 Oil paint and synthetic resin on blue Oil on blue Acrylivin panel with four Acrylivin with four 6-sided, cadmium cadmium-plated steel fasteners and plated steel bolts and fasteners hexagonal bolts 48 x 48 inches 355/s x 34 inches The Menil Collection, Houston Collection of Egidio Marzona Untitled Drawing, 1976 Pastel and graphite on Plexiglas with black oxide steel fasteners 495/s x 495/s inches Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover; Gift of Carl Andre Cover: Robert Ryman, Midland II, 1976. Oil paint and synthetic resin on blue Acrylivin with steel bolts and fasteners, 48 x 48 inches. The Menil Collection, Houston All works by Robert Ryman © 2007 Robert Ryman , Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York Exhibition curated by Franklin Sirmans, curator of modern and contemporary art. Text written by Michelle White, assistant curator. This exhibition is funded in part by Frances Dittmer, William F. Stern, and the City of Houston. THE MENIL COUI.:C1 ION The Menil Collection 1515 Sui Ross Street Houston, Texas 77006 713-525-9400 November 9 2007-February 17, 2008 www.menil.org Printed with low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) inks on recycled paper containing at least 20 ' post consumer waste. bolts and fasteners made of clear vinyl, matte-black oxide, shiny cadmium steel, and opaque sanded Plexiglas, among other materials. Ryman, never having received formal artistic training, moved to New York City to become a jazz musician in 1952. Not long after, he made his first painting and began to investigate the possibilities of white paint on a square support, the defining characteristics of his work ever since. For the artist, these two elements are so neutral that they foreground how the work is made, rather than what is being represented . Within these limita tions, the possible permutations and varieties showcase elements of a painting that often go unnoticed: the artist's signature, the edges of the support, the different ways paint can be applied, and the way the artwork is attached to the wall. In other words, Ryman's paintings do not represent: they do not provide a picture or a story, nor do they have a metaphoric meaning. They ask, "What is painting?" As Ryman has said, "There is never a question of what to paint, but only how to paint. The how of painting has always been the image-the end product." 3 Robert Ryman, Untitled, 1976, installation view of "Rooms P.S.1, " New York. Part of Ryman's interest in hanging hardware in 1976 related to his Photograph: Jonathan M . Dent belief that a representation cannot replace the actual experience of seeing a painting. Historian Thierry de Duve has suggested that photographs of Ryman's paintings with prominent wall fasteners could never be visual n June 1976, Robert Ryman pasted two sheets of watercolor paper, surrogates because the photographs rely on architectural space. As Ryman washed in a thin layer of white-matte acrylic, on the wall of a former has said, "In books and magazines, people see reproductions, and they Iclassroom for "Rooms," the inaugural exhibition at P.S.1 in New York. see photographs of paintings. And they read what people have said about The afternoon light from an adjacent window fell on the two clean different paintings. Their perception is geared by that. They might have white squares set against the peeling paint and crackled patina. To help preconceptions about what they are to see or what they might expect, the paper absorb the reflected sun, Ryman made sure the concrete floors without ever having seen a painting ... 4 were polished and glossy. As can be seen in an archival photograph of This philosophy is articulated in a 1976 piece for "This is The Magazine 5 the installation, the paintings seemed to glow. This work was among a Show," an exhibition that only existed in print in the magazine Artforum. series of other site-specific projects the artist completed in 1976, including Ryman's contribution was a small square of typeset text in the middle of a commission for the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Made in a white page. He ironically signed his name with a date in the lower situ, the Biennale work consisted of nine sheets of watercolor paper. right-hand corner. The text reads: White paint was applied on the perimeters of the edges, with strokes that It would be good if many people bought Artforum. overlapped directly on the wall so that when the medium dried, the paper Artforum has good pictures and a lot of good writing stuck to the wall. In both this and the P.S.1 work, a simple formal gesture about many things. It is informative and good to have. suggested that a painting can be defined literally as a space on a surface. It is nice to see it too. A great number of people already buy Artforum. It would be It was this kind of exploration that led the artist, in 1976, to begin good if more people did. --------- examining a painting's hanging hardware (the utilitarian equipment that Artforum is a good magazine. attaches the support to the wall) as an extension of his desire that his work be experienced in person. He started to design visible fasteners that he incor The text is provided in place of a "good" picture or a piece of "good" porated into the composition of the painting. As seen in Untitled Drawing, writing. In so doing the artist points out the fundamental omission: 1976, a careful graphite line connects the mounts so that functional and a work of art. utilitarian aspects of the piece become a critical aspect of the picture. 1 What is paramount to understanding Ryman's work is the importance The twenty-one paintings the artist made that year, including the of a direct and personal visual encounter. As the artist continues to paint seventeen works in the exhibition "Robert Ryman: Paintings 1976" at and explore the myriad possibilities of the medium in much the same way P.S.1, feature prominent fasteners. Chosen for their appearance as much he has since early in his career, this modest reflection on a specific year as for their practicality, 2 they consist of various combinations of hardware, offers a moment of pause in his ongoing conversation about the process with distinct, but very ordinary, textures and surfaces. They include of painting. .