Minimalism @ Bourse de Commerce

Robert Ryman, Untitled, 2010-2011

The Pinault collection's current exhibition, in spite of its title, is not so much an exhibition of minimalist art as it is a display of works that embrace the themes and concerns of minimalist art from the 1970s onwards. Among a handful of what we know to be minimalist works are an array of art privileging light, surface, the monochromatic, balance, the grid and so on. Of the several of works made under the minimalist umbrella, a sculpture by Donald Judd, a lovely Brice Marden encaustic, Number (1972), and some Japanese Mono-ha pieces stood out.

Robert Ryman, District, 1985

For me, the highlight of the exhibition was seeing Pinault's collection of Robert Ryman's paintings, most of which I would consider to be his least minimalist works. The one piece which might be described as minimalist is the sculptural District (1985) from the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. On walking into the Bourse, the first works, hung along the right wall, were Ryman's final Untitled (2010-2011) paintings. White vibrates over blue, red, yellow, green, orange and purple. White is never as pure as it makes out, white is never as pure as we think it is. For Ryman, white is tinged with blue, even when only whisps of blue can be seen on the canvas as the first of his Series paintings from 2004 also on display in the first room. For Ryman, blue is the DNA of white. The frame and the edges are as important as the center of the painting, so in the Untitled (2010-2011) works, it doesn't surprise to see white falling out of the square, the frame a misshapen orange and green and blue. Coloured ground and a trapezoid shape of white, edges of white on coloured backgrounds remind of and may be influenced by Rothko, the space of the picture in a single colour influenced by Malevich. Thus, this late series might be seen as an ode to the history of twentieth century abstraction, from black square to colour field.

Agnes Martin, Blue-Gray Composition, 1962

A small painting by Agnes Martin, Blue-Gray Composition, in the upstairs galleries was exquisite, like nothing I had ever seen Martin paint. In it, she considers horizontal lines, interacting with a vertical line down the middle, a window of white at the centre, as if it is an opening for light falling through space. I have always thought of Martin's pencil lines as far from minimalism because they are hand drawn, tending to slight falters as the hand moves down and across the canvas. Martin's works are about looking, how we engage with a painting, seeing it from afar, then moving forward to be met by a completely different painting. They are delicate and fragile, intimate like the line drawn in pencil, quite at odds with the industrial constructions of Donald Judd and painted geometrical shapes by Frank Stella's.

On Kawara, Today, Sept. 13, 2001.

 

 

The vitrines around the inner circumference are filled with a selection of On Kawara's Today series in which he paints a date in white on black background, accompanied by a box with a newspaper clipping from the given date. The works are mesmerizing because we read the newspaper clippings as showing what is important to that culture on that day. For example, on September 13, 2001, an article from The New York Times bemoans the chaos brought to the stock exchange thanks to the collapse of the Twin Towers. The accompanying image of burning twin towers is horrifying, making the responses of the stock exchange as reported in the NYT disturbing. The newspaper cuttings in boxes are also fascinating for their historical value. It seems so long ago that newspaper clippings would be archived in a box.

Meg Webster installation in the rotunda

The rotunda is occupied by installations of San Francisco artist Meg Webster. Sensuous sculptures made of natural fabrics, materials and foliage. The deliciously soft scent of honey emanating from a wax piece with traces running down an uneven surface, textured and tempting touch, was compelling. There was something perfect about the shapes made from salt, red ochre, and foliage, again engaging senses other than sight. Webster is interested in experimenting with how these landforms resonate with their materials, reminding us also that the structures of the natural world are also very much fabricated.

Susumu Koshimizu, From Sculpture to Surface—A Tetrahedron, 1972/2012

In the upstairs galleries, the works became more adventurous, departing from the minimalist aesthetic, often through introducing natural materials. Although it was interesting to see works by Hans Haacke, Dorothea Rockburne, and Jackie Winsor, these later examples of post-minimalist installation and sculpture didn't seem to belong as forcefully as others (such as those of Meg Webster). Ultimately, the exhibition offers a sweep through some key minimalist themes, at times, at the expense of coherence. That said, Pinault's collection is so impressive, and the fact that a single collector has work enough to fill four floors with minimalist-related art is mindboggling.