Red Grid, Blue Circles, Black Arcs from Four Sides and Yellow Arcs from Four Corners 1972

Sol LeWitt made this drawing, Red Grid, Blue Circles, Black Arcs, and Yellow Arcs, with what looks like colored pencils. It’s a process of layering, of color building upon color, that suggests an almost endless amount of time spent in its making. Look at how the grid gently curves. It almost feels like looking into some kind of expanding space. There is something very human about the touch of colored pencil on paper – you can see the texture of the paper showing through each mark. Even though the image is highly geometric, its real warmth lies in this imperfectly handmade quality. LeWitt gives us a structure, but it’s not a rigid, cold one. It is a loose and lyrical structure, like a musical score, or a complex set of possibilities. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's grid paintings. I think both artists invite us to slow down and find beauty in the simplest things.