Hippos: Hit the Beach! September 2, 2010

This summer, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery will be displaying an artwork directly on the museum walls. A crew of fifteen people, expected to work for a total of 5,040 hours, will install a commissioned graphite drawing made up of millions of scribble marks of varying density that will cover 3,200 square feet of space on three adjoining walls above and surrounding the stairwell that connects the 1962 Gordon Bunshaft-designed Knox building to the 1905 neoclassical Albright building. The drawing was envisioned specifically for the Albright-Knox by the American Conceptual artist Sol LeWitt prior to his death in 2007. It was commissioned by Director Louis Grachos, who had been in conversation with LeWitt and his gallery, PaceWildenstein, since 2006. The 3,200 square foot drawing will become a quasi-permanent installation at the Albright-Knox. The eight-week process of the drawing will be documented with photographs and video.