Sol LeWitt
Art & Culture
•
1h 12m
Directed by Chris Teerink • Documentary • 2012 • 72 minutes
'Conceptual artists leap to conclusions logic cannot reach,' Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) said in a rare audio-interview from 1974. Notoriously camera-shy, Lewitt refused awards and rarely granted interviews, yet in Chris Teerink's sensitive cinematic portrait, the pioneering conceptual American artist comes alive.
LeWitt's artwork can be seen as obsession pushed to the limit of paradox and absurdity: simple ideas, communicated simply-often with a set of instructions sent by fax-lead to overwhelming visual and intellectual complexity. For example, to create Wall drawing #801: Spiral, a white line spirals down the black wall of a cupola 3.2 miles long. The film documents the piece's 2011 installation in Maastricht, the Netherlands, which takes eight assistants 30 days to complete. When the painstaking work is done and the scaffolding taken away, the result is the transformative.
Using extensive interviews and documentation of artwork installed around the world, in the acclaimed documentary Sol LeWitt, director Chris Teerink explores the artist's work and philosophy.
'Eye-catching and informative... Both an accessible introduction and a piece of advanced criticism. 'Sol LeWitt' will help you understand the art it depicts and allow you to appreciate those aspects of it that surpass understanding.' -A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Up Next in Art & Culture
-
Lomax the Songhunter
Directed by Rogier Kappers • Documentary • 2005 • 95 minutes
Alan Lomax (1915-2002) devoted his life to recording the world's folk tunes before they would permanently disappear with the rise of the modern music industry. In LOMAX THE SONGHUNTER filmmaker Rogier Kappers follows the route that Lom...
-
Edward Hopper
Directed by Ron Peck • Documentary • 1981 • 47 minutes
A study of the 20th century American painter's life and work.
-
The Silence of Mark Rothko
Directed by Marjoleine Boonstra • Documentary • 2014 • 52 minutes
'He wanted the viewer to step into the painting. What he aimed for was not a consumption of art, but a dialogue. He thought that art could transform the public.' -Annie Cohen-Solal, Mark Rothko biographer Painter Mark Rothko is be...