The Tracings
essays on art and architecture
Featured
essays on art and architecture
I found myself in a small room with two paintings, one by Agnes Martin, the other by Robert Ryman, facing each other. The silence was deafening.
Franz Kline's Black, White, and Gray (1959) is nearly nine feet tall and nearly seven feet wide. I came across it in person at the Met a few months ago. It’s overwhelming…
Ingres is reputed to have said that he could paint a nude with only mud, provided he had a full palette for the background.
When you are within a few feet of this painting, you can no longer see where it begins or ends, and are simply gazing into its limitlessness.
Mark Rothko was found dead on the floor of his studio on February 25, 1970. What ensued from his death was the largest lawsuit ever to take place in the art world.
The Kimball Art Museum is now fifty years old, and looks no different than the day it was finished.
Like so many ventures of the 1970's, Arcosanti is sometimes seen as merely a commune. Yet it's hard to deny the charm of the place, and that of its inhabitants.
Taliesen West is a kind of geometric interpretation of nature. No detail is left undesigned. No tree, rock or plant is not asked to pose for the audience. It is the final act of the master.
It is difficult to convey the impact of Judd’s works. It's not just the size. It's that the work mediates between you, the earth and sky, challenging every reference point of consciousness.
One of the great mysteries of Greek architecture which defies rational explanation is something known as the Triglyph Dilemma.
Dawn, dusk, and moonlight. These are the moments of Homer’s paintings. Light continues to illuminate, as all else fades, as if in a dream.