Installing Sol LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing No. 3” at the Hirshhorn’s “Panza Collection” exhibit took a lot more than just a hammer and a nail. Specifically, it took ladders, levels, many hours’ labor by skilled draftsmen Roland Lusk and Lacey Fekishazy and a lot of pencils.
LeWitt, who died in 2007, began in 1968 to draw directly on walls rather than on paper. A few years later, he began including instructions with his drawings, so they could “executed” by others, the way a composer writes scores for other musicians to perform. “The artist must allow various interpretations on his plan,” LeWitt wrote. “Each person draws a line differently, and each person understands words differently.” Dimensions of LeWitt’s wall drawings vary, and some decisions are left up to the draftsmen.
As LeWitt wrote in his 1969 Sentences on Conceptual Art, “It is difficult to bungle a good idea.”
If you go
“The Panza Collection”
Where: Hirshorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW
When: Through January 11, 2009
More info: Free; 202- 633-4674; www.hmsg.si.edu
