This selection of variations of the cube from Sol LeWitt’s series Incomplete Open Cubes from 1974 includes three large-scale aluminum pieces: Incomplete Open Cube 5/1, 8/5 and 8/9. The titles reveal where in the schematic progression the piece falls – for example, 8/9 indicates the ninth variation of a cube with eight elements.
Opposed to the sentimentality of Expressionism, LeWitt turned to systematic geometry by devising basic sets of rules that would govern the design and execution of a work of art. His influential 1974 project is an arithmetic concept identifying all 122 unique variations in which a cube can be incomplete. Each structure is an open cube with between one and nine limbs removed, so that the structure remains three-dimensional and connected. The project was realized in several different forms including drawings, small structures in wood and the large-scale aluminum variations included in this exhibition.
