Untitled Broken Rectangle (5 Units) 1980

Curator: Looking at Robert MacPherson's "Untitled Broken Rectangle (5 Units)" from 1980, a striking visual rhythm takes hold. Constructed with found objects and acrylic paint on paper, the piece employs a monochrome palette. What’s your initial response? Editor: An immediate feeling of stillness. The slightly off-white rectangles, suspended in that near-monochrome, suggest a sort of silent, repetitive gesture. It evokes something institutional, perhaps the ghost of repetitive bureaucratic actions or archival forms. Curator: Indeed, the seriality is critical. Notice how the five rectangular panels, despite their uniformity in color, display subtle variations in size. The composition adheres to principles of minimalism; focusing on basic geometric forms, arranged sequentially to establish relationships of scale and proportion. It invites careful examination of the surface quality and its minute details. Editor: And those suspended rectangles… They mimic something we understand inherently. Think of folk art traditions—hanging children's art or perhaps votive offerings in a more rural setting. The monochrome diminishes the immediacy, abstracting from that sentimentality, but doesn’t quite eliminate it. Curator: I'd argue MacPherson uses this abstraction to focus us. Each rectangle is 'broken' by the thread used to suspend it, cleaving each shape and distorting its geometrical certainty. Semiotically, it asks questions regarding its autonomy as an individual unit within this group of five, the material integrity that gives each ‘Rectangle’ the right to exist. Editor: Exactly! The 'broken' element lends it a strange vulnerability. It also seems a clear reference to minimalist sculptural traditions that embraced common materials and stark geometries, then recontextualizes the austere in something a little more intimate, perhaps human. Curator: The choice of 'found object' adds another dimension. We might consider how an ordinary or rejected material gains new significance when framed within the artistic context, thus challenging traditional notions of artistic creation. Editor: It seems the symbols point us toward this balance of modern rigor and common symbolism. These rectangles aren’t perfect, but, taken together, they invite reflection. A fitting puzzle from MacPherson, don’t you agree? Curator: Quite right, and a clever articulation. The work invites introspection, challenging viewers to observe the subtly and poetry within seeming simplicity.