The Mallarmé Suite 1991

Curator: This striking minimalist print is called "The Mallarmé Suite" created by Ellsworth Kelly in 1991. Editor: My first thought? It feels like a beautifully balanced scale, tipping between darkness and light. A very elegant tug-of-war on paper. Curator: Elegance is a key aspect here. Kelly, known for his hard-edge painting and interest in pure form, presents a monochrome composition focusing on the interplay between positive and negative space. Notice the single geometric form. How does this simple arrangement carry meaning? Editor: It's like a silent challenge! It reminds me of shadows and the way they can completely reshape a room, turning the familiar into something mysterious. Perhaps a memory half-recalled. I'm fascinated by what isn't explicitly there. Curator: The starkness could be seen as a response to Stéphane Mallarmé's own approach to poetry. Mallarmé experimented with disrupting traditional syntax, creating gaps, absences, and evocative forms to push the boundaries of language. What's withheld often carries just as much meaning as what is present. The white is as important as the black, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Absolutely! And in its stark simplicity, I almost feel the weight of countless meanings, each competing for space. Is it possible to evoke feelings of drama with merely a black triangle and a white void? Kelly seems to achieve it! It whispers. It intrigues. Curator: Perhaps it invites a personal response precisely because it does not impose a singular meaning. Kelly has created what the late poet and critic, John Ashbery, referred to as an openness to all possibilities through simplicity of form. It becomes less about "what" and more about "how". Editor: Exactly! Thank you. That little black triangle is quite an actor! Well, now I must run off to explore those possibilities… Thanks for joining me on this one. Curator: Until the next journey through shape and significance, then.