Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
They became what was then called post-minimalism.
He started as an assistant to Robert Rauschenberg.
His early work was almost immediately well received, sold, and written about.
(Strangely, his work was much slower to catch on in Europe.)
Unlike many of the first-generation minimalists, though, Mardens work never stood still.
Together, I fancy these works might spell out something mysterious and gigantic a structure of beauty.
He was married to Helen Marden.
They made for an alluring couple.
I do not think that I ever saw Brice Marden without a hat.
His late work lulls us into a hypnotic state.
Think of these pieces as snakes in a box.
He starts with a subtle monochromatic plane.
On this he applies lines, usually half an inch or so thick.
These ribbons of color have body and surface tension, and are spontaneous but endlessly labored for.
You see under-painting lines that were here, then gone, then might have moved over slightly.
You feel the development, the unfolding, the resolution of this painting.
The aura is pearl-like, burnished, imperfectly perfect.
He invented these superlong painting brushes and even painted with sticks.
You are always aware of his hand moving, thinking, erasing, trying again.
He once described the paintings edges as the infinitesimal hinge between.
Thats what Mardens work is.
