Painting #91121 1991

Rudolf de Crignis made this painting, it’s called Painting #91121, with, it seems, incredible patience and devotion to process. It’s like he’s saying, “I’m going to create a world, one line at a time." The canvas is a field of pale off-white, and across it, de Crignis has drawn thin horizontal lines. The paint looks incredibly thin, almost like a wash, so that the lines feel embedded in the canvas rather than sitting on top of it. Each line wavers and wobbles ever so slightly; they remind me of Agnes Martin’s grids, but looser, more handmade. What strikes me is the tension between the grid, which is often about control and order, and the handmade imperfection of each line. In some ways, it's a metaphor for life, isn't it? We try to impose order, but life insists on its own messy, unpredictable path. Ultimately, I think this work is about the beauty of the imperfect.