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“In painting, something has to look easy, even though it might not be easy. That’s an important part of painting – that it has to have that feeling like it just happened.” —Robert Ryman
Robert Ryman, the icon of minimalism and conceptual art, passed away last week at the age of 88. Born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1930, Ryman first came to New York City in 1953 in pursuit of a career as a jazz saxophonist. Relentlessly experimental in pursuing new techniques to achieve his aim of what he referred to as realist canvases – because they presented the reality of his chosen materials – the influence of improvisational jazz music can be felt in his virtuosic works.
In 2007, Art21 featured Ryman in episode four of their fourth season, Paradox, alongside Mark Bradford, Catherine Sullivan, and Allora & Calzadilla. In the Ryman section, the delightfully candid and self-effacing artist talks about growing up in Nashville, the importance of music to his development as an artist, and his approach to art making, and finally we get a close look at his 2007 exhibition at Pace, No Title Required.
