As I write this, I've got two tabs open in my web browser. One tab is an image of an apparently blank canvas by the American artist Robert Ryman. Titled General 52 x 52, the original just sold at auction for nearly $1.4m. The other tab is a TikTok video likening the voice of the new Manchester United manager to a character from Despicable Me. To be honest, I think I'm enjoying the TikTok video more than Ryman's painting.
But I think Ryman's all-white paintings actually do what Pantone claims 'mocha mousse' does. Ryman wasn't fussy. He gave his paintings unimaginative titles because he didn't want the title to influence how you saw the work.
He was known to exhibit his pieces in whatever order the shipping company delivered them. He didn't waffle on unintelligibly about his work, never claimed it contained all sorts of complex meanings and metaphors. He spoke sense about art, in his own lovely, clumsy way.
He told one interview: 'I wanted to paint the paint.' He told another interview that he hopes to illuminate and engage viewers with the interplay between surface and perception.
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