LeWitt Scribble Wall Drawing at the Albright-Knox

say this ten times:

Complete LeWitt. Complete LeWitt. Complete LeWitt.

It’s hard to believe, but true. The largest Sol LeWitt scribble wall drawing is now completed and on view for the price of admission (or a membership) at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. After 54 days of scribbling for 7 hours a day, 16 artists—all paid—worked for a total of 5,026 hours using 1,717 pencil leads to complete this monumental work of art.

It cannot be described with words.

Please come view Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #1268:Scribbles: Staircase (AKAG).

Image Credit: Photograph by Derek Gee/Buffalo News

continuum

Continuum (occasionally spelled continuüm) (pl. -tinua or -tinuums) refers to an entity which has continuity as its most notable property. It may refer to:

• Continuum (theory), anything that goes through a gradual transition from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt changes

The current gradual transition on the LeWitt scaffolding that occured this week was the removal of the plastic barier so that fine detail work and lighting the piece can be completed.

This week, members of the remaining crew are using laser pointers to direct one another to areas in the drawing that need less or more scribbles. Naturally occuring in the process of such a large drawing are “bunched up areas” that are either too dense or too light. Overheard are things like, “Do you see that area that looks like a boat shape? Can you lighten it?”, or “there is an area here [insert red dot of laser pointer] that is too light—can you shade that?” Marks the size of an inch or two are being made to fill in these areas.

At the end of this week, the plastic will be reinstalled so that the work can be varnished before the scaffolding is removed. The varnish will protect, darken and make matte the surface of the drawing. A sight to behold…

Image credit: The Sol LeWitt scribblers continue work at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery during the last week of September. Photographs by Tom Loonan.

Drawing Unveiling: October 16

This fundraiser will celebrate the completion of the Gallery’s commissioned Sol LeWitt scribble wall drawing in the stairwell that connects the 1962 Knox building and the 1905 Albright building. The 2,200-square-foot drawing, which was envisioned specifically for the Albright-Knox by LeWitt, comprises millions of graphite scribbles made by a crew of sixteen artists working for nearly 5,000 hours.

Guests will have the opportunity to view the completed drawing, meet the artists, and enjoy cocktails, music, and a light dinner.

We hope you will join us to mark this special occasion! Tickets are $250, and special Patron Tickets are also available. All proceeds benefit the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

For more information, or to make a reservation, please call 716.270.8274.

Draftsman Profile and Interview: Gabriel Hurier

Name: Gabriel Hurier

Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio; lives in New York City

Years worked with LeWitt: 6 years

Number of drawings completed: 25 drawings

Education: BFA from Miami University, Ohio

Ilana Chlebowski: The day I scribbled with you, you mentioned that when working as intensely as you do on LeWitt’s drawings you find the medium infiltrating into your own work. Can you expound on this, specifically how scribbling affects your work?

Gabriel Hurier: The art of Sol LeWitt fills many recesses in my mind, much the same way music, film, and literature can challenge and reshape or reinforce thinking. Perhaps Sol’s work helps me think in general; it has definitely changed my approach to the conception and creation of art. Scribbling in particular has given me a new way to think and draw—a new view into the construction of simple forms.

IC: There are many draftsmen that work on installing LeWitt’s work. We refer to you all as being part of the “LeWitt studio” which only exists “virtually”, of course. You’ve done many types of LeWitt wall drawings, but those of you here in Buffalo are “pencil guys.” Tell me what characteristics of your personality or skills you have make you qualified to work on the scribble drawings?

GH: I’ve been told that I have a lot of energy. That is maybe the main reason, though not a particular skill, for my working on Sol’s scribble drawings. Energy, the ability to see the whole picture, patience, and a decent hand make a good scribbler.

IC: Is scribbling the most difficult of the LeWitt pieces to install?

GH: Scribbling is the most physically and mentally demanding type of wall drawing that I have experienced.

IC: What do you think about when you scribble?

GH: I think of everything under the sun—family, news, what I’m doing, what I’m going to do next. But when I’ve no thoughts outside of mark making, it is then that the scribbling gets good. Probably the best comes from a blank mind.

IC: What was your relationship to Mr. LeWitt when he was alive? What is your relationship to him now, as you continue to install his work?

GH: Sol LeWitt, the artist, continues to grow, challenge, and enlighten beyond his death. The scope and influence of his work is expansive precisely because the wall drawings, structures, and prints involve the collaboration of other artists for realization. I spent precious few hours with the man, though I was fortunate enough to share a Thanksgiving with his family and see his studio.

IC: Some artist’s ideas are mass produced in large studios, where the artist’s hands do not touch the work. Even though the artist’s hand doesn’t touch the scribble drawing, what is it about LeWitt’s work that maintains this ultra-human feeling? Is it the relationships that develop on the scaffolding, in our case, or the simple medium of pencil?

GH: The fact that the wall drawings are done by human hands permeates every level or process. We are not out to make perfection. It is perhaps the molding of many imperfections that give the wall drawings vitality.

IC: You’ve been in Buffalo over a month now. What do you like about it here?

GH: I grew up in Cincinnati, and Buffalo feels Midwest to me. The crew has been great; I’ve dragged a few of them to some epic live shows at impressive venues like Town Ballroom, Soundlab, and Mohawk Place, plus the Lance Diamond Show. Beaver Island State Park has a beautiful disc golf course.

IC: LeWitt’s works are installed in cities across the globe. Do you find yourself feeling more connected to people in varied geographic locations or feeling detached from everyone?

GH: Working in many cities can be disorienting. I use the information I gather in photos and writing as sort of comparative study of peoples, architectures, and landscape. The goodbyes can be tough at times, and it will not be easy here.

Image Credit: Photograph of Gabriel Hurier at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery by Tom Loonan.

whoa dude: when it meets

About a week ago, on Friday, September 10 (Day 26), around 2pm I walked past the scaffolding where the Sol LeWitt scribble wall drawing is being installed at the Albright-Knox on my way to do something related to the installation of Beyond/In Western New York. As I passed, I heard my name being called over the hum of the negative air machine which removes the mounds of potentially harmful-to-the-scribblers graphite out of their work space: “Hey, do you want to come up and see two completed sections?” As I turned, unsure of what I heard, to look, the ringing words sunk in and I immediately said, “Yes, of course, absolutely!” I quickly ran to the yellow metal stairs that lead to the top (third) level of scaffolding on the southwest corner of the gallery space. Gabriel Hurier, one of the draftsmen from LeWitt’s studio, said, “We just removed the paper, and I thought you would like to see an area where two of the sections meet.”

As the artists began installation of LeWitt’s grand vision for the Albright-Knox, the entire walls were “gridded out” to match LeWitt’s plan using common household thread. Each section received an alphabetic letter associated with it and each was to be completed either with vertical or horizontal “bands.” It sounds fairly straightforward in theory, but in practice it’s a bit difficult because depending on the orientation of the shape and how wide or long the space is will determine how “tight” or “loose” each mass of scribble gradation must be. But that is the job for the draftsmen to figure out, thank goodness! What is altogether fascinating about what this means to the viewer is, essentially, that the spaces where shades of horizontally-oriented grey meet shades of vertically-oriented grey is unpredictable. (Sure, we can view LeWitt’s plans and maquette, but it’s a translation of nearly 1 to 100 ratio. Whoa!) What Gabriel was referring to when he said that they had “removed the paper” is the method in which the draftsmen cover the areas not being currently worked on (due to having not started an adjacent section or having completed an adjacent section) with brown paper and masking tape. When adjacent sections are completed, the paper is removed and the joining edges are touched up. These dramatic meetings of darks and lights in vertical and horizontal shades of graphite gradations on the wall are chock full scribble-filled masses of emotion that convey craze, excitement, sadness, joy, longing, fear, loathe, passion or maybe even death.

Once again, I found myself unprepared for my reaction, as my expectations of myself were much more pulled-together. Choked up, ready to cry, and feeling a need to scream, all I could say was, “whoa…” I backed down the yellow stairwell, staring up at the corner of wall space that had, in a second, translated me to a space of rawness typically untapped…whoa…whoa.

Image Credit: Aeriel view of Alyssa Morasco scribbling on the wall. Photograph by Tom Loonan.

scribbling knows no gender: girl scribblers rule (and so do guy scribblers!)

Image Credit: Featured women scribblers Alyssa Morasco, Kate Gaudy and Allison Midgley are among three of the seven women working on the Sol LeWitt scribble wall drawing at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Photographs by Tom Loonan.

why can’t we be friends, why can’t we be friends?

How well do you get along with others in tight spaces?

Imaged Credits: Photographs by Tom Loonan of the Sol LeWitt scribble wall drawing being installed at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, September 2010.