{"data":{"id":"776","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":776,"topgoose_id":1656,"tms_id":776,"display_name":"Sol LeWitt","sort_name":"LeWitt Sol","display_date":"1928–2007","begin_date":"1928","end_date":"2007","biography":"\u003cp\u003eOver the course of five decades, Sol LeWitt explored a variety of mediums and scales while continually mining ideas he first developed in the early 1960s. Seeking to distinguish himself from the Abstract Expressionists, LeWitt determined that the initial concept, not the finished object, was the work of art. In a series of 1967 statements that outlined parameters for Conceptual art, the artist argued, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1968 LeWitt sought to make\na work that was “as two-dimensional as\npossible,” and he achieved this flatness\nliterally by sketching directly onto a\ngallery wall. During the next forty years\nhe conceived of more than 1,200 wall\ndrawings. Accompanying instructions\nallow other artists and even amateurs to\nexecute the works in different locations.\nLeWitt saw the wall drawings as the\nequivalent of musical scores that could\nbe realized by any number of people\nin any location, and his instructions often\nallow for subtle interpretive differences.\nFor\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/25530\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003eWall Drawing #289\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, the artist instructs drafters to draw lines in white crayon charted on a six-inch graphite grid that overlays one to four painted black walls.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeWitt’s three-dimensional works, or “structures,” are based on the unit of an open rather than solid cube, peeling away what he perceived as the decorative skin on traditional sculpture. Though he created these structures in a range of scales, LeWitt maintained the ratio 1:8.5 for each unit (the empty space is 8.5 times the width of the wood or metal edge). \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/7187\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFive Towers\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e,\na later, more complex structure, rises more\nthan seven feet in height, culminating in\nfour towers on each edge of its square form,\nwith a fifth tower in the center.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500115429","wikidata_id":"Q168587","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:33:34.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-12T07:00:06.585-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/776/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/776/exhibitions"}}}}