Untitled (Ring with Light) 1966

Here's a ring-shaped sculpture by Robert Morris, with two vertical lines of light breaking up the form. I can imagine him, puzzling over how to resolve the circle – which could feel like a static form. Then, he divides it, not into halves, but into a kind of awkward geometry that feels very human. It feels like the circle has been broken, and then repaired, but not seamlessly. The light itself is quite a physical substance here, not just a glow, and it seems to emphasize the feeling of breakage and repair. The lines are very straight against the grey, and it feels like he's saying something about how the light creates the object, but the object also makes the light. He was in dialogue with people like Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, and it’s interesting how they each thought of the object as its own thing, standing alone in the world. Like all artists, they were in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Morris leaves us with the sense that this artwork embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.