Lot Essay
In Untitled "Study for Brussels", Ryman carefully chose the suppport, the number of panels, the media and installation. With Untitled "Study for Brussels" he has instructed that the panels be hung twelve to fourteen inches apart. The choice of white sets his non-objective style apart from those of other abstract, minimal artists, allowing unlimited experimentation.
In The Village Voice review of the 1983 Ryman exhibition at Bonnier Gallery in New York, Roberta Smith quotes Ryman as frequently saying, "It's not a question of what to paint but how to paint." Smith goes on to say, "he has developed that 'how' into a fine and complex art, investigating the interactions of various grounds (canvas, linen, cotton, wood, paper, steel, copper, aluminum, mylar, acrivilin, fiberglass, Plexiglas) with different paints (oil, baked enamel, enamelac, polymer, epoxy, vinyl acetate emulsion) and brush widths. He has even brought the 'how' of attaching the painting to the wall increasingly into the picture." (R. Smith, "Expression Without The Ism," The Village Voice, March 29, 1983, p. 81).
In The Village Voice review of the 1983 Ryman exhibition at Bonnier Gallery in New York, Roberta Smith quotes Ryman as frequently saying, "It's not a question of what to paint but how to paint." Smith goes on to say, "he has developed that 'how' into a fine and complex art, investigating the interactions of various grounds (canvas, linen, cotton, wood, paper, steel, copper, aluminum, mylar, acrivilin, fiberglass, Plexiglas) with different paints (oil, baked enamel, enamelac, polymer, epoxy, vinyl acetate emulsion) and brush widths. He has even brought the 'how' of attaching the painting to the wall increasingly into the picture." (R. Smith, "Expression Without The Ism," The Village Voice, March 29, 1983, p. 81).