Complex Form #4

Artist Sol LeWitt (American, 1928 - 2007)

Date1987

MediumPainted aluminum (in two sections)

Dimensions124 x 136 x 53 in

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of the artist and Members Purchase Fund

Terms

Object number1995.25

DescriptionIn the early 1960s LeWitt worked with three-dimensional paintings and freestanding objects derived from basic rectangular forms. These works are not "sculptural" in the traditional sense of the term, however. Throughout the history of Western art, processes of carving, molding, casting, and the like have been definitive to sculptural practice. The conventional language of sculpture, dependent upon these hands-on production methods, is not readily applicable to LeWitt's creative output in this area. LeWitt's three-dimensional works are, after all, fabricated by assistants using industrial materials and mass-production techniques. With this in mind, one can speak of LeWitt's objects as being "made" or "constructed" rather than "carved" or "sculpted." The term "structures," therefore, is used to refer to LeWitt's three-dimensional work, as it is more in keeping with the spirit and intent of the artist's overall conception.
Since the mid-1960s LeWitt's structures have been based almost exclusively on a limited selection of individual geometric forms generated in a serial format from idiosyncratic (though deceptively simple) formulas. Although his earliest structures were painted black, all the structures he has made since 1965 have been white. The clean, cold, neutral appearance of an all-white surface, LeWitt believes, reduces the possibility of reading any expressionistic or emotional content into the work. His rigorous exploration of three-dimensional forms within this preset system has yielded an extremely vast and exceptionally rich body of work.
LeWitt's emphasis on pre-set systems and serialism was very much in the spirit of the minimal and conceptual work of the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the minimal sculptors of the times, however, were concerned with asserting (often aggressively) the physical presence of an object within a particular space. Lewitt's structures, on the other hand, incorporate negative or empty space within the forms themselves.(1) From the beginning, they included both open and closed geometric forms. For the artist, the anonymous, endless repetition of his ongoing serial experiments with solid and void spaces mirrored certain qualities of urban architecture. In the landscape of modern Manhattan office and apartment buildings, LeWitt recognized the basic geometric vocabulary of ancient architecture, including ziggurats, pyramids, and, of course, cubes.(2)
These basic geometric ingredients have continued to assert themselves in LeWitt's work for several decades. In one of their many incarnations, these elemental forms--particularly the cube and the pyramid--reappear in the 1987 Complex Form series. These freestanding structures are derived from regular geometric shapes that have been subjected to a series of mathematical and formulaic permutations. The result is a diverse group of irregular, multiplanar structures that, in their formal complexity, rival anything the artist has produced.
"Complex Form #4" is one of a number of works inspired by LeWitt's consideration of the pyramid. With their elongated lines, hard edges, sharp angles, and gleaming white surfaces, these structures are often thought to resemble stalactites and stalagmites. Some critics have dubbed these works "icebergs," while others have compared them to the soaring spires of Gothic cathedrals.(3) In spite of the variety of potential associations, LeWitt's structures, like all of his mature work, are emphatically not representational. They are objects that refer only to themselves and to the ideas that brought them into being.
The objects that comprise the Complex Form series appear to be the most complicated of LeWitt's structures, seemingly impossible to represent in a clear conceptual schema. But each work is begun with surprisingly simple diagrammatic drawings, which, in effect, function as the instructions for the execution of the finished work. In these drawings, diagonal lines across a grid represent the ground plan of the form, and the point at which they cross represents the apex, where the various planes meet to form a single point. LeWitt determines the size of the objects with simple instructions that dictate the height of the apex from the base.(4) In this way, the Complex Form series demonstrates a basic tenet of LeWitt's work: simple ideas can produce beautiful, intelligent, and formally innovative results.
The New Britain Museum acquired Complex Form #4 from the artist in 1993. In 1995 the original wooden work was refabricated in aluminum, with the permission of the artist, in order to accommodate longterm exhibition outdoors. At that time, the original sculpture was destroyed.

JR

Bibliography:
Alicia Legg, ed., "Sol LeWitt", exhib. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1978); Susanna Singer, ed., "Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawings, 1968-1984", exhib. cat. (Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 1984); Susanna Singer, ed., "Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawings 1984-1992", exhib. cat. (Andover, Mass.: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1992); Chrissie Iles, ed., "Sol LeWitt: Structures, 1962-1993", exhib. cat. (Oxford, Eng.: Museum of Modern Art, 1993); Adachiara Zevi, ed., "Sol LeWitt: Critical Texts" (Rome: I Libri di AEIUO, Editrice Inonia, 1994).

Notes:
1 . Lucy R. Lippard, "Rejective Art," "Art International" 10 (October 1966): 33-36.
2 . Sol LeWitt, "Ziggurats," in Legg, "Sol LeWitt", pp. 172-73.
3 . Iles, Sol LeWitt: "Structures", p. 13.
4 . David Batchelor, "Within and Between," in ibid., p. 23.

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