Trinome (6 - 2 - C - 31) 1996

Yves Gaucher made this print, Trinome (6 - 2 - C - 31), using serigraphy; a process that really lends itself to clean lines and flat planes of color. It’s all about reduction, taking things away to find the essence. There’s such a stillness to this piece. It’s mostly a creamy, quiet ground, but then you have this solid horizontal block, divided again into a dark brown and a thinner stripe of intense black. The image feels like a landscape, or maybe a building facade – something solid and present. Then, Gaucher throws in this little twist; a rectangle is cut out of the bottom of the shape, with a sliver of white left over. This shape introduces a little question mark into all that stability. I think back to some of Agnes Martin's works, similarly focused on a quiet kind of geometry, but maybe more organic somehow. Gaucher's print and his other works are interesting because they show us how a few simple shapes can create endless possibilities for seeing and thinking.