- Artist
- Lawrence Weiner 1942 – 2021
- Medium
- Gouache, graphite, ink and type on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 435 × 355 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased with funds provided by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery 2005
- Reference
- T12016
Summary
This work is one of eight preparatory drawings (Tate T12011-T12018) related to Weiner’s installation SPHERES OF INFLUENCE 1991. The installation comprises five statement works (Tate T12006-T12010) and two related open edition posters (Tate P20269-P20270).
Weiner’s work has always been characterised both by its conceptual nature and by the graphic quality of its pictorial manifestations. He is best known for his ‘statement’ works which exist as language with the potential to be displayed or acted out. The flexibility of presentation suggests an egalitarian approach to art making. However the distinctive style of Weiner’s statement works owes a great deal to his aesthetic approach, which has had a pronounced influence on contemporary graphic design and typography. Throughout his career the artist has produced works on paper including posters, drawings and books.
These drawings exemplify aspects of the artist’s precise visual style. The motif of crossed lines bisecting an ovoid form recurs in all the SPHERES OF INFLUENCE drawings as well as the related posters. This diagrammatic form suggests a point of convergence in the crossed paths of the parallel lines, with the ovoid shapes expressing the parameters of the ‘spheres of influence’ of the title. The artist has described how he traced ordinary household objects including jars to make some of the curvilinear forms in these works (conversation with the artist, 17 October 2005).
In this drawing two small ovoid motifs are positioned near the top of the page. The centre of each shape is highlighted in red gouache and grey pencil. The handwritten and circled words ‘SPHERES OF INFLUENCE’ are positioned between the two forms and adjacent to a line which points towards the centre of each motif. At the bottom of the page are two sections of typewritten text. The first reads: ‘SLOPPY WELDING / FIRST ORDER WELDING / LACKING FINESSE / SOPHISTICATED’. The second reads: ‘EXPANSION OR REDUCTION / OF SPHERE OF INFLUENCE’. They are linked by an equal sign composed of two parallel red rectangular shapes.
Further reading:
Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Alexander Alberro, Alice Zimmerman and David Batchelor, Lawrence Weiner, London 1998, reproduced p.89 in colour.
‘Lawrence Weiner: SPHERES OF INFLUENCE’, exhibition leaflet, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1991.
Liz Kotz and Carlos Basualdo, Lawrence Weiner: Until It Is, exhibition catalogue, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio 2002.
Rachel Taylor
December 2005
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