ROCKBURNE, Dorthea

1973

Carbon paper and carbon on paper, metal/acrylic frame

40 x 52 x 1 1/4" FRAMED

In an effort to break the "habits" of her art school training, Dorothea Rockburne avoided canvas in favor of such mundane materials as craft paper, chip board, thin-gage metal, and carbon paper. Using familiar materials and mathematical systems (an influence of her studies with mathematician Max Dehn), Rockburne sought to make compositions which relied on natural order. For an installation at Bykert Gallery in 1970, Rockburne painted the wooden floors to match the walls upon which she traced the folded edges of carbon paper. The resulting ambiguity calls into question issues of composition, mark, and maker. The work on view is part of a related series, "Drawing Which Makes Itself."

1973

ROCKBURNE, Dorthea

b. Canada, 1934

Gift of Daniel Weinberg

1990.12