Sol LeWitt

An artist that I researched and specifically referenced within my own artwork was the American Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt, he created "structures," a term he used to describe his three-dimensional work which he created in the 1960's. LeWitt made open, modular structures that originated from the cube, this skeletal form became a basic building block of the artist’s three-dimensional work. In the mid-1960s, LeWitt began to work with the open cube: twelve equal linear elements connected at eight corners to form a skeletal structure. From 1969, he would conceive many of his modular structures on a large scale, to be constructed in aluminium or steel by industrial fabricators. This use of fabricated materials was something that I was interested in myself, I used plaster as my chosen material as It felt industrial and it was cost efficient and I wasnt worried if I wasted it.

Some of my favourite sculptures by LeWitt are composed of stacked cinder blocks, these sculptures have self-imposed restrictions, this is something I apply in my own artist practice, I give myself restrictions and rules to follow, my artwork must be made in a particular way and have a hand made quality. One of my favourite concrete sculptures by LeWitt is 'Negative Pyramid' I enjoy this piece as it is very simple, all it is concrete blocks stacked on top of each other, it isnt trying to pretend to be something else, I also like the scale of the piece, it dominates the area and makes the viewer move around it.