Wall Drawing #601, Forms Derived from the Cube

This architecturally scaled artwork was made for the I.M. Pei addition at the Des Moines Art Center. In the lobby of this corporate building, it’s deceptively simple geometric structures have been recreated with eye-candy opulence from the same seemingly prosaic instructions he detailed in 1989. LeWitt stressed the idea behind his work over its execution. This wall drawing began as a set of instructions to be followed in executing the work. These straightforward instructions yield an astonishing—and stunningly beautiful—work that is at once simple and highly complex, rigorous and sensual. Forms may appear to be flat, to recede in space, or to project into the viewer’s space, while others meld to the structure of the wall itself.