Convention 2002

Robert Ryman made this large square painting, Convention, using white paint on a canvas support. It's like he's asking, what does it mean to make a painting? The surface is built up with many small, individual brushstrokes. Look closely and you’ll see the canvas peeking through, right? It’s not just about covering the surface; it's about the layering, the rhythm of applying paint, one stroke at a time. The creamy white sits softly on the raw linen like a coating of fresh snow, and around the edges you can see a warm, earthy underlayer. It's interesting how Ryman is sometimes compared to Agnes Martin. With Martin, it's about a quiet, meditative space, whereas Ryman is more of a material investigation, more about the here and now of painting itself. He isn't trying to express anything, just present something to be seen. And maybe, in that seeing, we find something for ourselves.