The title, “Scrim veil—Black rectangle—Natural light (1977)” pretty much sums up the parts of Robert Irwin’s masterpiece which has been reinstalled at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art for their last go around before their facilities are swallowed up by the Metropolitan. Roberta Smith put all the parts together in her review of the show in Friday’s paper.
I’m thinking Robert Irwin must be about my height because the black line that forms the rectangle, which surrounds the room, lines up with the bottom, black border of the giant scrim so that you really don’t see it on the far wall. This served to disorient you with the simplest of means. Irwin maximizes the drama of the essentially empty room by animating the window from which the scrim departs.
Leave a comment