Measurements

Mel Bochner’s Measurements have a genesis in his “Measurement: Room,” debuted at Galerie Heiner Friedrich (Munich) in 1969. In this space, Bochner’s exhibit served both to turn the room itself into the art object, and to frame the viewer within that gallery room.

According to the Tate, these works were, at least in part, a reflection of Bochner’s focus on the “abstract systems that govern the physical world.” These measurements, placed on the gallery walls as art, brings into question the viewer’s place in the space.

About Monoprints: The process of creating monoprints is not inherently complicated: create a matrix, apply ink, place paper, press. Early forays into the technique were made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but it was not until the 1700s that William Blake began experimenting with what we would now recognize as monotypes. Thereafter, various monoprinting methods were developed and utilized by the likes of Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Gaugin; later, Chagall, Miró, and Picasso would seize upon the technique.

Mel Bochner’s monoprints – immediately identifiable for their texture, text, and arresting color composition - are a bit more complicated, and a bit more unpredictable. His works have “immense visual variety” – though each series of monoprints is created using a single matrix, the variables [color spectrum, color density, size, etc.] can be endlessly manipulated. Though each piece is created with this single matrix, each piece is unique.

This variety results from a host of variables: the medium used (oil paints altered with different oils and varnishes), the viscosity of the paints, color placement (determined by Bochner and sometimes – in an effort to quell his inherent color biases – the printer), and the paper itself. (The paper is handmade and multi-layered, resulting in stark levels of differentiation once the paint is applied.) The incalculability of these variables and the skill of the artist and Two Palms (his printer) result in works that are striking for their brilliance and for their contrast.