Untitled 1962

Burgoyne Diller made this untitled drawing, probably with colored pencils, in the mid-20th century. It’s a kind of open-ended structure of nested squares. The way the grey pencil strokes build up reminds me of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings, but it’s also like a deconstructed Mondrian, who Diller very much admired. The yellow and blue stripes, sitting within the grey, are a simple but effective use of color. I wonder if he was aiming for an ideal form, something solid, and then he messed it up? Like me, maybe he was drawn to that space where the hand almost, but doesn’t quite, succeed. I feel like the history of painting is artists looking at each other's work, borrowing ideas, and then breaking or remaking them. It’s an ongoing conversation, with the best works often being the ones that fall apart a little.