Untitled (White Out) 1991

Rirkrit Tiravanija made this artwork, Untitled (White Out), at an unknown date and with materials that are hard to pin down. It appears to be two sheets of paper, perhaps screen-printed, side by side in a frame. The beauty here lies in its ambiguity. What was originally on the paper? What story is concealed beneath the pristine surface? I love how Tiravanija embraces the act of erasing, making it a creative gesture. It's like a painter endlessly revising, except here the palimpsest is hidden, just a ghost. The slight variation in texture and tone across the two panels invite us to look closer, to contemplate the physicality of absence. The white is not just white; it's a field of possibilities, a quiet rebellion against the tyranny of the visible. Like a John Cage composition, the lack of obvious imagery invites contemplation and challenges our assumptions.