Ladder 1968

Editor: Here we have Betty Parsons' "Ladder" from 1968, a mixed-media sculpture that appears to incorporate wood. There's something incredibly raw about its simplicity; the colours are muted, and the form is almost childish. How would you interpret this work? Curator: My eye is drawn to the surface. Note the textures. We can see the varied painted sections alongside exposed bare wood. The linear elements - those bands of blue and brown running parallel - create a structured composition that's challenged by the imperfections within the material itself, and then disrupted again by the bars in that primary red hue, binding the piece together into its ladder form. Consider the form. A ladder typically connotes ascension, forward progress. Here, rendered abstractly, that literal interpretation is softened. What do you make of that relationship? Editor: I suppose the rough finish suggests that the progress might be difficult, less straightforward than we’d imagine a climb to be? Curator: Precisely. Now, notice the repeated use of geometric forms: rectangles dominating the composition. Through shape, colour, and form, Parson directs our viewing experience. Her interest in the basic formal elements seems almost an investigation of fundamental visual concepts in a spatial context, wouldn’t you say? Editor: I can certainly appreciate it from that angle. The conversation around purely visual qualities definitely brings forward aspects I had completely missed initially. Thank you! Curator: A worthwhile discussion indeed; and hopefully listeners will similarly appreciate and explore the construction and materials while observing the formalist relationships at play in Betty Parson’s ladder.