The Writing on the Wall

A Piece of Work

MoMA, WNYC Studios

Education, Visual Arts, Self-improvement, Arts, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2017

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are new paintings and drawings by Sol LeWitt being made all the time -- even though the artist died in 2007. That’s possible because LeWitt’s wrote instructions for creating his works art, for other people to make. Abbi and writer Samantha Irby consider a piece by Glenn Ligon that takes a line by Zora Neale Hurston and repeats it over and over -- transforming the text into something new. Plus, Martine Syms tells Abbi why she puts giant letters right on the gallery walls. Also featuring: Mark Joshua Epstein View artwork from this episode at wnyc.org/textart --- About the podcast: From WNYC Studios and MoMA, A Piece of Work is everything you want to know about modern and contemporary art but were afraid to ask. Hosted by "Broad City"’s Abbi Jacobson, this 10-episode series explores everything from Pop art to performance in lively conversations with curators, artists, and Abbi’s friends, including Hannibal Buress, Tavi Gevinson, RuPaul, and Questlove. Produced by WNYC Studios. www.wnycstudios.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	So, this is a artwork that was made in 2004.
0:09.0	So we're standing just outside a classroom at MoMA,
0:12.0	surrounded by high schoolersers about 15 of them.
0:15.4	I've been invited to sit in on an art class.
0:19.0	At the front is Ellen Davis.
0:20.6	I talked to her before in the episode about monochromes and that unbelievably
0:25.1	blue Klein painting she was restoring.
0:28.0	Now Ellen is playing the role of teacher and the students are all standing there each with a
0:31.8	marker in their hands.
0:33.0	It's pretty freaking cute.
0:35.0	So we're going to be making a piece on this wall that's called Wall Drawing 797.
0:40.0	It's by the artist Saul Lowit.
0:42.0	I'm just going to read you the instructions for the piece.
0:46.0	Looit wrote instructions, directions that other people would use to make a painting or drawing on the wall.
0:52.0	The first drafter has a black marker and makes an irregular horizontal line near the top of the wall.
0:59.0	Then the second drafter tries to copy it.
1:02.0	These kids are going to make a solowit. They're going to draw directly on the wall and make a piece of work.
1:08.0	You see what I did? Right there.
1:12.0	Then the second drafter followed by the third. I see what I did. Right there.
1:12.5	Then the second drafter followed by the third and fourth copies the last line drawn until the bottom of the wall is reached.
1:21.0	So can any of you kind of envision what this thing is going to look like?
1:25.0	It would be like horizontal lines I guess. Is it like that kind of?
	...

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