This Summer was bookended with holiday weekend visits to Dia:Beacon. On Labor Day, MeineFotoFrau and I enjoyed a picnic on the grounds of the museum. We were given a sneak peek at the recently completed Sol Lewitt Drawing Series... installation that officially opens this weekend. I was immediately struck by the extensiveness of the installation. Off hand, I'd estimate there to be about nine different pieces within a cluster of a handful of galleries.
Several pieces are more lyrical, and gestural than I would have expected, some pieces allowing for a fair amount of freehand drawing. There are two additional versions of the already installed series of squares with lines drawn in four directions, the two new installments being in color. The introduction of the restricted palette transformed these two pieces from drawings on the walls into subtle ghosts of frescoes that rest within the surface of the wall.
The one piece that felt jarring to me and I liked the least is one that depicts a series of thickly drawn arcs and straight lines. The breadth of the lines and their arrangement gave the sense of wallpaper, reminiscent of the Dia's Andy exhibit of last year and feels more like a moment of transition - and eye cleansing between two large sections of more delicate pieces.
I generally on cool burn when it comes to Sol Lewitt, but this is an installation that is full of grace, and surpise, and one that can be returned to many times, revealing something new with each visit.
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