I…flower

04/13 · by · in Big Ideas

A portion of Carl Andre's "one hundred sonnets, I...flower"

A stark wooden vitrine showcases a stunning work by the minimalist sculptor Carl Andre at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, “one hundred sonnets, I…flower.” To be honest, I didn’t know much about Andre as of three days ago. (And I wish I hadn’t googled him today.) I went to Marfa for the divine Judds and Flavins. But this piece really stuck.

On each of 99 pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 white paper, the artist has typed a block of text, each consisting of a single repeated word, beginning with ‘I’, then moving through parts of the body, then the landscape, and concluding with the word ‘flower.’

The piece was made in 1963, after Rauschenberg‘s radical monochromatic canvases, but before Beckett‘s ‘Breath,’ two minimalist works featured in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite . I don’t know how this piece will come across in photos, but it was such a happy surprise to find it.

From "one hundred sonnets, I...flower".

From "one hundred sonnets, I...flower."

From "one hundred sonnets, I...flower."

From "one hundred sonnets, I...flower."

From "one hundred sonnets, I...flower."

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