Artwork Description
untitled
Dimensions: 13.75 x 13.75″
Year: 1990
Media: lithograph
Agnes Martin–untitled is a characteristically simple work that features her extremely fine, straight lines, boxes, and an image of perfection. If one looks closer, however, they will see the small imperfections of lines drawn entirely by hand. While still emanating a minimalist piece, Martin uses this piece to opt out of a pursuit of intellectualism; instead, she favors the spiritual. In creating such simple pieces composed of grids and stripes, Martin hoped to plant a positive experience and profound thought within the mind of the viewer.
Martin is heavily associated with New Mexico; it is where she settled for years in isolation and solitude to develop her techniques of simplicity, puristic artistic philosophies, and profound abstraction. She believed that for her art to be successful, any person who experienced it should be able to feel the same positive emotions that she felt while making the work, as well as an inspiration similar to what she experienced. Martin’s philosophies also included an in-depth exploration of the Inner Eye, meditation, and inspiration. She believed that all inspiration comes from a complete detachment from the impulses and urges of the physical world, that only when an artist completely separates themselves from distractions–which is done through meditation–can they truly begin to see profound inspiration through their Inner Eye.
Martin passed away in 2004 in Taos, New Mexico, but she lives on through her students, such as New Mexican sculptress Karen Yank, and her works, which are still celebrated globally.
Lillie Guo