"At the time being"

“At the time being,” a temporary installation by Linn Meyers at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., is, as the artist describes it, “a record.” To put it simply, her work is a record of the systematic interactions between color and line that define its purpose as an exploration of form. Art in the absence of narrative is a visual experience, an exercise in form and principle, and “At the time being” is just this. Linn Meyers created this piece by painting the walls of the Goh Annex in the museum a deep blue and drawing upon this layer – directly on the wall – a multitude of swirling yellow lines. Her approach is intuitive and instantaneous, and thus a record of her experience “at the time being” of creating it; however, it also controlled in that her work remains bound to the systematic principles of cause and effect, or in this case, of optical illusion.

Meyers masterfully applies line and color to create a maximum effect. For instance, the twisting and exuberant composition of rippling lines is not solely the product of the lines themselves – their curves and transitions from thick to thin – but also of the ambiguity between the ends and beginnings of lines. Thus, the straight lines that intersect the swirling, circular forms are actually not lines at all; rather, they are the product of lines ending and beginning in a different direction. In the same vein, Meyers allows for an illusion of depth in the 2-dimensional piece through the interactions between yellow and blue. The work appears exceptionally vibrant from a distance, as the blue pushes the multitude of thin, yellow lines forward, creating an intriguing space of optical ambiguity. The blue thus acts as a negative space within the composition – one whose role is as equally important as the positive space, or the yellow. It is the interactions between these spaces, or the amount of space between each line, in addition to the relationship between the colors, that creates a synergy of optical and psychological exuberance, which characterize this work as a one of achievement.

On a final note, I should also mention that the piece was created in response to Vincent van Gogh’s painting, “Road Menders” (1889), another piece in the collection with many compositional similarities, including color scheme, line, an illusion of depth, and psychological vibrancy.