Rule 1991

This is Robert Ryman’s ‘Rule’, and just looking at it, I can imagine the way it came into being: the subtle shifts, the building up, the scraping away. It's a delicate, almost obsessive, layering of white on white. I sympathize with Ryman. I know what it’s like to be in that zone, pushing paint around, trying to make something happen. What was he thinking as he applied each stroke? Was he focused on the texture, the subtle variations in tone? The paint isn't too thick, but there's a definite surface, a kind of skin. Each gesture feels like a tiny decision, a small act of mark-making. And when they all come together, they create this shimmering, unified whole. Ryman's work reminds me of Agnes Martin or even Brice Marden. These artists were also deeply engaged in a kind of reductive painting, stripping away the extraneous to get at something essential. We are all in an ongoing conversation, this act of call and response that is the history of painting.