Untitled 1969

Gary Kuehn made this drawing on paper with a pencil, and it feels like an exploration, a testing out of something. The soft yellow background is like a hazy field on which these dark lines play. Look closely, and you'll see the marks are both contained and boundless. A rectangular border, then a field of looping circles which never quite close. It’s like he’s showing us the very act of thinking, the way thoughts circle and overlap, but never fully connect. The pencil itself seems like it’s dancing, light and easy, yet also deliberate. This reminds me of Dorothea Rockburne, who also used simple lines to explore complex ideas about space and form. Like her work, there’s a vulnerability here, an openness to the unknown. There's no grand statement being made, just a quiet invitation to join Kuehn in his process, to witness the unfolding of an idea. And in that, there’s a kind of profound beauty.