‘Afterimage’ Reviews Artists Making Rational Art on Paper

“Afterimage: Drawing Through Process,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, is a cogent survey of works on paper made between 1963 and 1975 by 24 American artists who used the activity of art-making as the subject of their art. To this end, each set up a variety of impersonal systems whose procedures they could follow in a detached manner.

The results appear like scientific experiments. Carefully controlled, ploddingly rational, with no claims that cannot be verified, this unsentimental art hides nothing behind the authority of tradition, the mantle of talent, the mystique of creative genius or the attractions of conventional aesthetics. Instead, it possesses a democratic ethos and see-for-yourself appeal that still resonates today.

Organized by MOCA associate curator Cornelia H. Butler, this intelligent show fills six galleries with 160 modestly scaled works. Arranged neither chronologically nor thematically, it is divided into three equal parts.

The first two galleries contain the most visually engaging pieces. A hypnotic group of untitled ink washes by Eva Hesse resembling mandalas suffused with target-like simplicity stands out for its subtle power. Joel Shapiro’s untitled accumulations of fingerprints and smears in grease, graphite and motor oil also embody a richness that is hard to square with their rudimentary materials and techniques. Likewise, the impact of Richard Tuttle’s wall drawings, each made of a few strands of wire, shadows and lightly penciled lines, is far greater than such humble components might suggest.

The middle two galleries form the backbone of “Afterimage.” Avoiding the inexplicable and steering clear of the ineffable, these insistently pedestrian works put a premium on objectivity.

A pen-and-ink drawing by Bruce Nauman consists of five close-ups of his mouth--going through the motions of speaking or being pinched, prodded and poked by his fingers. The image’s five-part title precisely describes what is depicted, insisting that nothing mysterious lies behind the image and that physical manipulation is art’s main purpose.

Robert Morris’ eight “Blind Time” drawings carry the relationship between title and image to its logical conclusion. Each piece’s title establishes specific requirements about how marks are to be made on various parts of the paper over a prescribed time. Covering his eyes with a blindfold (to avoid subjectivity), the artist then followed the directions he set for himself, smudging and smearing graphite powder as dictated. What initially appear to be spontaneous, expressive gestures are actually the evidence of regimented procedures.

Six works by Dorothea Rockburne, each titled “Drawing Which Makes Itself,” similarly attempt to be straightforward records of their making. Big sheets of folded paper treat creases as linear traces of simple actions, fusing the activity of forming lines with direct consequences.

The final two galleries flesh out the exhibition, elaborating upon the argument made in the first four without altering its basic principles. Rubbings by Michelle Stuart, Robert Overby and Jack Whitten emphasize a strain of matter-of-fact Realism running through the show.

Gordon Matta-Clark’s roughly carved stacks of paper and crudely cut sheets of cardboard provide a jolt of raw vitality. In contrast, Robert Smithson’s cartoonish drawings of sculptural projects (accompanied by a handwritten contract) merely function as souvenirs, incidental mementos of works installed elsewhere.

Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s painstakingly rendered watercolors depicting ordinary floorboards and Nancy Grossman’s collages of daily reminders and crossed-out “to do” lists stick out like sore thumbs. Nowhere else in the show are illusionism and casual intimacy featured so prominently.

Together, the works by these two artists hint at the limits of pseudo-scientific procedures, suggesting that there’s no substitute for willpower and desire. Traditional compositions and personal narratives likewise reenter the picture, marking the end of an approach to drawing that sought to eliminate such supposedly old-fashioned conventions.

* “Afterimage: Drawing Through Process,” Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2766. Closed Mondays. Ends Aug. 22. $6.