Lead Knot: 7 1988

Sherrie Levine made ‘Lead Knot: 7’ with lead inlaid into plywood, and when you look at it, you might think about the process of making, like I do. I imagine Sherrie Levine thinking about how she could interrupt the smooth surface of the wood. It's so tactile; I wonder if she ran her hands over it. It’s really an amazing thing to take a hard material like lead and make it look so soft you want to touch it. There is a conversation across time. I think about the Arte Povera artists and their interest in humble materials. Sometimes I try to imagine what different artists would say to each other if they were in the same room, and what they would think about this work. It's a way for me to think about my own painting, and what I’m contributing to that same conversation. It’s never a one-way street; we are all working together.