Robert Ryman

So I was looking at Robert Ryman's work at the Fast Forward show at the DMA, and I started thinking about my first reaction to his work. I saw a show last year at the DMA that highlighted his work. The work was generally minimal, textured and many of the works alterative framing devices. I reacted somewhat negative to the show. However, I keep coming back to the artist. I suddenly realized a few innovations that Ryman was making. On a few paintings, he painted these textured paintings on portrait canvas. These paintings used white paint. These paintings also used portrait canvas which is almost always been used for detailed realism and not abstract, textured works. This made me come to think that Ryman might want the viewer to draw thier attention to the texture by using a very traditional flat surface and the use of white. Ryman brakes with tradition to point out the detail of the textured paint. He uses white paint to allow the viewer to focus on the texture.
Why is it important to focus on texture? In an age that image-making, texture continues to show the brake from printed image-making from painting. Easily reproduced images through print making are flat and Ryman’s paintings are textured which the texture refers to something unique about painting. Ryman's texture is not overly dramatic, but subtle, like the white paint he uses to apply the texture. The paint is also applied in what seems to be a random manner. These random brushes are nested together in a natural and an organic mix. The paintings expose the fact that the painting is on a flat surface. The painting does not always extend to the edges of the canvas. This reveals the material that supports the work. And only those in the know, can appreciate Ryman's use of the portrait canvas.
So, the more I viewed Ryman’s work, the more I understand how the work fit into the time and place and the more I appreciated his work. A white painted canvas can be much more than what is seen from a first glance.