Whitman's expanded theater: a traveling survey of works by vanguard cross-media artist Robert Whitman offers film-and-object installations from the 1960s, along with some never-exhibited drawings from the '70s - Biography

Art in America, Jan, 2004 by Edward Leffingwell

As the lights came up again, a woman entered and attached large paper bags to the walls. A massive, creaking timber burst through the stage-left wall and, very slowly, penetrated the adjacent wall at an angle. The effect was surreal. A rope appeared from above, and a man climbed down. Using a level as his guide, he cut a door in the upstage wall, opened the door, stepped through and closed it behind him. The weather report resumed. Another carpenter appeared and sealed the door with joint compound, painted the seam and exited. Several bags fell to the floor, and a small window opened in a wall, stage right. A long twig emerged through a wall, and a rivulet of intense blue bled from the stigmata it created. Other twigs emerged. One leaked yellow paint, another green. A woman appeared and sponged a stream of blue until it became red, recalling the transformation from water to paint and back again in Whitman's early projection piece Shower (ca. 1964) and conceivably suggesting the miracle of Cana or the making of a painting. (Throughout Ghost, painting is a recurrent metaphor.)

Flames ignited along the washtub's rim as two women stood by. One washed the plates it contained, and the other dried and dropped them to the floor, shattering them. A voice whispered "Let me think," as a black scrim descended. Two figures sat at a table. Like a grail, the projected image of a glass of red wine reappeared above, the wine level in the glass this time. The voice twice returned to Whitman's first question, "Could you do me a favor?" From its unseen source, more wine flowed into the glass and brimmed over.--E.L.

"Robert Whitman: Playback" is currently on view at Dia:Chelsea [Mar. 5, 2003 Jan. 11, 2004]. Performances of Whitman's Prune Flat (1965) and Light Touch (1976) were presented at Dia:Beacon Sept. 5, 6 and 7, 2003, and at Dia:Chelsea Sept. 10, 11 and 12, 2003. Ghost (2002) was presented at PaceWildenstein, New York, Sept. 18, 19 and 25, 2002. "Playback" will travel to Fundacao de Serralves, Porto, Portugal, in summer 2004, and then to the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in the fall. "Robert Whitman: Shading" can now be seen at PaceWildenstein in Chelsea [Jan. 16-Feb. 14]. It includes Wavy Red Line (1967), one of three laser works shown in his exhibition "Dark" at Pace Gallery 36 years ago, and a new mixed media installation piece.

Author: Edward Leffingwell, a New York-based writer, is A.i.A.'s corresponding editor for Brazil.