'One-Second Drawing (17" 2002) (Time Signature 5:1)', John Latham

Artwork details

Artist

John Latham (1921‑ 2006)

Title

One-Second Drawing (17" 2002) (Time Signature 5:1)

Date 1972

MediumAcrylic and enamel on wood

Dimensionsobject: 271 x 369 x 26 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Presented by the artist 1976

Reference

T02070

On display at Tate Britain

Theme: BP Walk through British Art

Room: 1960

Display caption

In the early 1970s, Latham devised a series of sixty 'One Second Drawings', of which this is an example. In devising these works, Latham returned to the issue of representing visually his idea of a 'least event'. Latham produced a set of instructions which specified that sixty 'drawings' were to be created, one per day, by spraying a piece of white blockboard for one second with black acrylic paint. The numerical sequence in the title of this example (17' 2002) relates to the stamp on the back. This records the time of its execution (the seventeenth second of the twentieth minute of the second hour) followed by the date (14 December 1972)… (read more)

September 2004