Wall Drawing #821: A black square divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts, each with a different direction of alternating flat and glossy bands

Over nearly four decades, Sol LeWitt’s work—equal parts conceptual and visual—introduced new ways of making and thinking about art. The artist posited his influential ideas most clearly in over 1,200 wall drawings, which he conceived between 1968 and his death in 2007. LeWitt shared the creation of his work with other makers—trained draftsman and, in most cases, assistants hired from local art schools or institutions—extending the collaborative possibilities of his artwork indefinitely. Through the 1980s, the artist used only traditional drawing media such as crayon, ink, and pencil. In the following decade, however, acrylic paint became his dominant medium. Wall Drawing #821 depicts a signature motif with monumental solemnity. The work comprises a grid of horizontal, vertical, and opposing diagonal lines, which were LeWitt’s most fundamental geometric and linear building blocks. The artist usually rendered this motif graphically; in this work, however, the figure-ground relationship is articulated solely through the juxtaposition of subtly differentiated matte and gloss paints.