Stars 8 Pointed 1996

Sol LeWitt made this print called “Stars 8 Pointed” with screenprint on paper. It's a grid of squares, each with an eight-pointed star, but here's the catch: no two are exactly alike. Look closely at the materiality of it. See the way the ink sits on the page, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, always a little uneven? It’s like he's inviting imperfection into a form that could easily be rigid and mechanical. Take the square in the third row, the fourth one from the left. It is a solid block of pure, unadulterated red. There's no star, just the weight of color. For me, that square acts like a pause, a moment of pure sensation. LeWitt reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, even though they seem so different. She also used grids, but for very different ends. Ultimately, he embraces a sense of play and change within a system. And that's what keeps us looking, keeps us wondering.