and they are majestic. These works comae "striding like the
color of the heavy hemlocks". I did not, like the persona in
Stevens' poem (the poet's favorite, as it happens), feel afraid,
but I did feel awe.
A true artist makes the most and the best of the simplest
material and idea and here, Marden, working with the
Ur-instrument of graphite mingled with beeswax and
geometry, creates tableaux that draw us back again and again,
even if we do not espouse or even particularly understand
Minimalism. I am an old-fashioned fan—call me reactionary-of representation, yet I responded to both the calm of these
works and the surprising tempests hidden in their serene
panels. In their blackness or whiteness—I should say, more
HYLAND
