Untitled 1973

This unnamed work, made by Christopher Wilmarth, is a ghost of an image, like a half-remembered dream. It’s made from vellum, that lovely, translucent material which feels so delicate, so poised, so ready to tear, yet here it is, still with us, like a survivor. See how the vellum is pinned around the edges of the paper? It’s such a simple act of fastening, but it really emphasizes the material qualities of the piece. The creamy triangle in the corner peeks out like a secret. It's got a kind of luminescence to it, while the rest of the image is shrouded in a hazy grey. It makes me think of fog, and of half-built forms. Wilmarth worked with glass and light throughout his career, so perhaps this small piece is like a fragment of something much larger, or a fleeting moment captured in time. It reminds me a little of Robert Ryman, in its pared-down aesthetic and emphasis on materials. Art making is often about the conversation between the artist and the work. Pieces such as this invites us into the conversation too.