Filmmaker Chris Teerink approaches the career of the influential conceptual artist with the same avoidance of convention and self-promotion that subject Solomon “Sol” LeWitt brought to his own career. LeWitt, who died in 2007, resolutely avoided the public eye, refusing even to attend openings of his work; since many of his pieces were constructed at a considerable remove—via lists of specific instructions to museum staff members who did the actual labor—his physical touch was often not even actually involved in the result. Teerink shows admirable respect for LeWitt's desire for privacy: although he includes excerpts of interviews with friends, colleagues, and commentators, as well as clips from a rare 1974 radio interview with LeWitt, the director rightly concentrates on the art. A centerpiece here follows the installation of one of the 1,000-plus wall paintings that LeWitt fashioned over his lifetime—a three-mile-long spiral down the cupola of a museum in Maastricht, Netherlands, requiring the labor of eight museum assistants working on scaffolds for a month. Another segment tours a permanent retrospective that fills three stories of an old factory at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Offering a deepened understanding and appreciation of the artist's work and underlying philosophy, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
Sol LeWitt
(2012) 72 min. DVD: $24.98 (avail. from most distributors), $398 w/PPR (avail. from www.icarusfilms.com). Icarus Films Home Video. Closed captioned. Volume 30, Issue 1
Sol LeWitt
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