Page 42 - Studio International - February 1974

(Top left)
Untitled 1965
Enamel on linen, 10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.
Coll. the artist
(Below left)
Untitled 1965
Oil on cotton, lox 10 in.
Coll. the artist
(Below)
General painting 197o
Enamel and Enamelac on cotton, between
48 and 54 in. square

surface itself; while the dark warmth of the each as a similarly sized 'bare' border-frame primarily pictorial, inviting visual before
bare linen at the frontal edges and on the sides around a central square of gloss-enamel fully tactile exploration and virtually cancelling
counters this spare frontality with its own five coats thick. Suitably sanded and dried significance of other sense explorations. Of
presence as light-absorbing material stretched between each coat, the enamel area obtains an course it could be well argued that Ryman's
into pronounced three-dimensionality. In identity all its own as a rigid plane of almost use of these physical-pictorial qualities is less
another painting (of which there are two mirror-like finish whose brilliant light a matter of manipulation than of choice of
versions), cotton is the base for the continuous reflection contrasts almost dramatically with the materials from a range readily available and
edge-to-edge horizontal strokes of thick oil light-absorbing dead-surfaced Enamelac `pre-packaged' in contemporary commercial
paint sitting on that surface with an evenness which itself is almost absorbed into the cotton. culture. The choosing still manifests an active
that accentuates the visual importance of the And in the exhibition installation, Ryman artistic mentality in its internal coherence and
paint's small-scaled three-dimensional accentuated the phenomenological potential of rigorous expurgation of many aspects of
irregularities : thicker (left-hand) vertical this contrasting reaction to light by varying the materials used within the relatively narrow
beginnings and horizontal edges of strokes, general character of light on (and thus the physical tradition of 'painting' for their
periodic blobs from the brush load, and tiny appearance of) these otherwise similar General potential complication (and compromise) of
dots of voids where the paint's thinness broke paintings. the essential qualities of his works. In each case
over the cotton's nub. Such plasticity, almost Light reflection and absorption, opaque and the chosen materials and their accentuated
sculptural play enhancing the flatness of the translucent, shiny and matte, smooth and qualities are few to an extreme : such nakedness
underlying plane, is obtained by the oil paint's rough, thick and thin: these words keep coming makes their choice and manipulation a high
ability to hold its own (as material form) up regardless of the material referent in risk activity. That Ryman's procedural activity
against brush and cloth and slow-drying into Ryman's work. This is neither a simple matter about his painting's materiality is as sparely
hardness : just as in the other painting, the of chance nor because such qualities are economic, as thoughtfully chosen, and as
more planar shine and subtle revelation of its properties of all physical matter. It is because phenomenologically reactive, is one of the
underlying texture is a property of the high Ryman's use of materials is very much in terms reasons that he succeeds in the risks he takes.
gloss and liquid adhesion of enamel. Enamel, it of these qualities. As such, it is important to For Ryman's art is not at all simply a matter of
contrast to Enamelac, is the basis of the 'image' note that these qualities share certain compatibility of materials; it is also a matter of
of each of the General paintings exhibited at the characteristics : they are essentially physical congruity of materials with their usage; and
Fischbach Gallery in 1971: white Enamelac rather than cultural, inviting direct finally of the particularity of Ryman's 'used
used as primer-sealer on all the fifteen slightly phenomenological rather than conceptual materials' among that of contemporary
different sized squares of cotton, and left in reaction; as physical qualities they are artists and of painters throughout time. q

8o