Erased Sol LeWitt
September 26, 2008 | ByFiled under: 151 3rd
Dear Reader,
This is Tammy. It’s hard to imagine that the Sol LeWitts are gone. We got up REALLY EARLY last week to witness the big event and I think I gasped when the first roll of paint hit it. And not because I’m one of those people who believe in the sacredness of art and its artifacts, but because I suddenly realized that these giant stripes of color have been a subliminal message for me in my five years of working here at the museum, and I gasped because I had finally figured it out…yes, Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings #935 and #936 look like my mother’s dresses from the seventies—sacred (my mother and the seventies, I don’t really care about dresses).
Even still, there was something very satisfying about watching the erasure of this bold display. Someone made a joke about wearing white after Labor Day, and then staff photographer Don Ross got stuck up in the cherry picker.
I was sad to see them go:
Wow I loved watching that! It was very satisfying in a way. Talk about closure. I wish I could hire those guys to paint over my past relationships. The end in particular, with the guy in the cherry picker lowering himself offscreen, was AWESOME. I liked your Hitchcocky cameo too, Tammy. Great job!
September 26th, 2008 at 12:28 pmbrilliant. i especially love the role of the cherry picker.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pmTammy, I was also glad to be able to witness the Lewitts get painted over. I think watching it happen was less traumatic then them suddenly disappearing one day. Tim S. and I spoke about it and we compared it to an open casket funeral: it’s kinda weird but it also lets you say good-bye and have some closure.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:46 pm