A pioneer of Conceptualism and Minimalism, Sol LeWitt is known for reducing art to its essentials. Unique from other minimalists, he was not interested as much in the use of industrial materials as he was in concepts and systems. For LeWitt, the cube became the basic modular unit for his artistic study. Le Witt’s visual exploration of space developed from this universally recognizable form. He divided the sides of the cube into halves, thirds, and quarters, breaking up the traditional representation of three dimensional space. The present lot is part of LeWitt’s study of forms derived from a cube, in which he transforms planar figures into a three-dimensional form.

In the present lot, LeWitt blurs the line between artist and architect. He simplifies art to a few of the most basic shapes and colors, presenting an ordered, organized approach to the artistic process. His drawings sometimes resemble mathematical diagrams. LeWitt’s india ink washes create three distinct tones of color, creating literal and figurative “grey areas” of space. His drawings create an interesting juxtaposition to the tradition of the “white cube” viewing space and ignite the work in dialogue with the location where it is ultimately displayed. His brilliantly colored ink washes were diluted and layered to achieve varying shades of grey, creating multifaceted areas. His goal was “to recreate art, to start from square one,” – beginning literally with squares and cubes.