Structure du Silence 1983

Aurelie Nemours made this artwork, Structure du Silence, with just black and white, and with perfect geometry. It makes me think about how artmaking is so often about a process of reduction. Here, the material aspect is all about the contrast: stark, absolute, without compromise. Look at how the black advances and recedes, and how the white does the same. It’s not just a figure/ground relationship, but a spatial dance. My eye is drawn to the way the rectangles stutter, not quite touching, suggesting an instability or a vibration. It’s like a silent hum. Nemours’ work reminds me a little bit of Agnes Martin’s quiet grids, but where Martin is soft and ethereal, Nemours is assertive and architectural. Art is all about conversation, riffing off what came before, and pushing it somewhere new. It’s never just one thing, but a field of possibilities.