13/3

Sol LeWitt American

Not on view

13/3 is an abstract sculpture composed of identical modules assembled according to the simple plan documented in the title: a thirteen-by-thirteen grid from which three towers rise. Interestingly, LeWitt did not consider his otherwise systematic work rational. Indeed, he aimed to "break out of the whole idea of rationality." "In a logical sequence," LeWitt wrote, in which a predetermined algorithm, not the artist, dictates the work of art, "you don’t think about it. It is a way of not thinking. It is irrational." The work’s balsa wood legs cast shadows that multiply and disarrange the modules. In addition, the modules act as frames that fracture the surrounding space. Overall, 13/3 creates perceptual effects both vertiginous and disorderly.

13/3, Sol LeWitt (American, Hartford, Connecticut 1928–2007 New York), Painted balsa wood

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