Sol LeWitt Torn Orange Paper

a square of orange paper with two diagonal tears from the upper corners toward the center, a 1975 artwork by sol lewitt
Sol LeWitt, From the Upper Left and Right Corners Toward the Center of the Page. R 324, 3/29/1975, torn orange paper, 50 x 50 cm, via Native
a square of orange paper with two tears from the left edge toward the center, a 1975 artwork by sol lewitt
Sol LeWitt, From the Midpoint of the Left and a Point Halfway Between the Mid Point of the Left Side and Upper Left Corner Towards the Center of the Page. R327, 3/29/1975, torn orange paper, 50 x 50 cm, via Native
a square of orange paper with two tears from the center of either side toward the center of the page, a 1975 artwork by sol lewitt
Sol LeWitt, From the Midpoint of the Left and Right Sides Toward the Center of the Page. R329, 3/29/1975, torn orange paper, 50 x 50 cm, via Native

I’m not sure who’s going harder here: Sol LeWitt for his 1975 show of serially torn orange paper in the House of Orange’s own backyard in Amsterdam; Art and Project, the gallery which had been a fiery nexus of conceptual art for decades, and whose gallery exhibitions were complemented by the Art and Project Bulletin, a groundbreaking publication that became its own art and exhibition platform; Robert and Suzanne Pannier, the Belgian collectors who spent decades in the relentless pursuit of domestically scaled conceptual perfection.

Anyway, the Panniers added three torn works to their LeWitt collection in 1975; MoMA got one from the series (R 328) in 2007 as part of a large gift of Art and Project material, which became two shows in 2009. Jonathan A. Hill had an incredible complete set of the Art and Project Bulletins [which, there was a batch released in 2011] and other related ephemera in 2024

The tears on the Panniers’ LeWitts look almost like creases, and the verso shows no tears at all, only a second title and signature. So LeWitt mounted them. One tear on the MoMA work actually looks like a tear, though, and seems to reveal a backing board tinted orange. On all of them, LeWitt’s pencil crosshairs mark the center of the sheet, the unreached target of every tear.

The Panniers’ LeWitts are being sold at Native in Brussels next month, and honestly, if you buy more than zero but less than all three, what are you even doing? Better to stay out of someone more serious’s way.