Range 1975

Curator: This is Mel Bochner's "Range," a work of indeterminate date currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. The dimensions clock in at 57 by 75 centimeters. What's your initial take? Editor: Overwhelming! The sheer repetition creates a claustrophobic feeling, like being trapped in an endless algorithm. Curator: Yes, the relentless string of numbers—they seem to oscillate between order and chaos. Numerology, perhaps? A secret code? Editor: Or simply the drudgery of calculation? I wonder about the labor involved. Was this meticulously hand-drawn, each number a testament to repetitive action? Curator: It's a fascinating tension between symbolic meaning and the physical act of creation. Is it about information, or the materiality of conveying that information? Editor: I'm leaning toward the latter. The slight variations in the numbers, the imperfections, are where the humanity surfaces. Curator: Indeed. It gives an unexpected emotional weight to this seemingly detached mathematical exercise. Editor: A reminder that even in abstraction, the hand and the intention leave their mark.