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Untitled

This untitled artwork by Robert Irwin is an acrylic disc just over four-and-a-half feet in diameter. It is mounted from its center point to the wall by a two-foot-long transparent acrylic tube that is hidden by the artwork itself when viewed from the front. The edges of the circular disc curve ever so slightly toward the wall. The curve is so slight that the disc is nearly flat. It is painted white all over except for a solitary stripe a few inches wide that wraps around the center like a belt. The stripe is painted gray in the center third and darkest at the very center. It gently grows paler on both the left and right until it vanishes by the edges. Here, it is completely clear, allowing the white wall to show through.

Because the disc is lacquered almost entirely white and displayed against a crisp white wall, they may appear to blend together when viewed from straight on. The dark gray segment at the stripe’s center is what so deftly hides the acrylic tube holding the disc aloft. This contributes to the illusion that the stripe might be painted directly onto the wall and not the disc. But natural light from above can create a bright spot that glints off the top edge of the disc. And soft, dusky shadows below the disc remind the viewer that the artwork has depth and is floating a foot away from the wall. When approached at an angle or from the side, the illusion is broken. But this in no way detracts from the pleasure of the piece. The beauty is in the utter simplicity of the artwork. The natural light illuminating it changes throughout the day, week to week, and seasonally. The ways that its shadows and even the center stripe change as the lighting does offers a reflection on our place in the ever-changing natural world.