Lead and Felt 1969

Robert Morris made this work called Lead and Felt, using, well, lead and felt. There is something inherently process-oriented about working with industrial materials like these, they have their own weight and flexibility, you are always working with them, not against them. Here the dull sheen of the lead, a metal used to weigh things down, is disrupted by the soft, matte quality of the dark felt. The lead looks like big, rough slabs, like they were torn off something bigger. The felt is cut into strips, all jumbled together. This jumble reminds me of when I begin a painting, throwing down the first marks and colors just to get things moving, to see what might happen. There's something exciting about the unpredictable nature of these materials. Morris’ work reminds me of Eva Hesse, in the way it embraces imperfection and chance. It's like they are both saying that art doesn't always have to be about perfect form or fixed meaning; it can also be about the messy, beautiful process of making.