Position of an undetermined line
1981
A bold, arcing line of graphite sweeps across the composition with raw, gestural energy, its trajectory neither fixed nor predictable. Fragments of cardboard are collaged onto the paper, adding a tactile, dimensional quality that disrupts the flatness of the surface. Venet's work engages with mathematical and philosophical concepts, questioning the nature of definition and certainty through the ambiguity of a line that resists precise classification.
- Medium
- graphite et collage de carton sur papier
- Dimensions
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Christie's
🔨 Auction Lot
Art Contemporain
Lot 291
Collectors of Bernar Venet
Also spotted by
Artists in conversation
Ellsworth Kelly
American · b. 1923
Kelly similarly explored the tension between geometric precision and organic line through works on paper combining drawing with collage elements, producing compositions where a single line or curve carries monumental visual weight against an empty field.
Fred Sandback
American · b. 1943
Sandback shared Venet's preoccupation with the philosophical and spatial properties of a single line existing in indeterminate space, producing graphite drawings on paper that treat the line as an open conceptual proposition rather than a descriptive tool.
François Morellet
French · b. 1926
Morellet consistently used graphite and mixed media on paper to explore lines governed by systemic yet arbitrary rules, producing works where geometric elements are positioned according to principles of underdetermination and conceptual chance rather than aesthetic composition.
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