Anne Truitt at Matthew Marks

Matthew Marks has 13 sculpture’s By Anne Truitt span a broad overview of her career. The show is a strong showing of works by Mrs. Truitt and in the exhibition illustrates the intelligent use of paint and surface – form and space that one immediately recognizes when thinking about and being with her artworks.

Frankly the show in its way is going to be for the front of the room as it were – there are no hidden surprise that are going to bring the masses back to her work, no spectacle that can be gushed at as “cool”. However the work is “cool” it always has been. Cool in that calculated way that allows viewers who spend a bit of time with the work to be surprised by a subtle shifts and influenced by the pairings around the gallery.

I’m glad to see the estate at Mathew Marks, it seems to be the right kind of pairing for work such as this. More so it seems that the work has come back to a strong New York base that it once had at Andre Emmerich.

Two Points (one good – one bad):

The Good
One of my biggest dislikes in the recent show at the Hirshhorn was the “floating islands” that the work sat on. While they were necessary to protect the work, they elevated the work in a way that worked against the very nature of the work. This show does not have that issue and the work is stronger for it.

The Bad
The odd thing about the installation are the three smaller rooms at Marks – depending on the artist these rooms are problematic in exhibitions there – and this show is really no exception. Three works (1962’s White: Four, 1963’s Gloucester, 1969’s Plinth) are given separate rooms while the remaining ten artworks are in the main space.

I think it makes sense for “White: Four” and Gloucester since the two of those are early pieces and very different from the rest of the work stylistically, but Plinth is a column like the ten in the main room – granted a bit larger but not different enough where it deserves to be put out in the reservation away from the rest of the show, but really this is my only complaint with the show.