Wall Drawings

Conceptual artist Sol LeWitt is best known for his large, geometric “Wall Drawings,” installed in museums and collector homes around the world. With his “Wall Drawings,” LeWitt put forward a radical view of artmaking: Artists must only provide an idea for an artwork, but they do not need to physically create the artwork themselves. For each of his over 1,300 “Wall Drawings,” LeWitt just shared the instruction for how to make the artwork, such as: “with pencil, draw 1000 random straight lines, 10 inches long, each day for 10 days, in a 10 x 10 foot square.” Oftentimes, when collecting a “Wall Drawing,” only these instructions (along with a certificate of authenticity) trades hands. Then, the new owner can work with a group of trained draftsmen to reinstall the work. While LeWitt’s “Wall Drawings” might seem permanent—they are rendered directly on walls, after all—the works are meant to be ephemeral, reinstalled again and again in different spaces following the artist’s original instructions.