Sol LeWitt

Distributed by Icarus Films, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710Produced by Frank van Reemst & Joost VerheijDirected by Chris Teerink2012, DVD, color and b&w, 72 min., In English, Dutch, French, and Italian, with English subtitles Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) revolutionized the art world in the 1960s with his belief that the ideas behind works of art are more important than the actual execution of those ideas. Nevertheless, LeWitt, who was associated with the conceptual art and minimalist art movements, always hoped his ideas would be realized, even if only for a very short amount of time. Chris Teerink’s documentary Sol LeWitt explores this tension between ideation and realization, providing a glimpse into the complexities of LeWitt’s work. Teerink intersperses images of LeWitt’s art in museums, public spaces, and his homes in Italy and Connecticut with interview footage from many of LeWitt’s contemporaries in the art world, along with footage from LeWitt himself in voiceover. (LeWitt was notoriously camera-shy, rarely gave interviews, and often did not even attend his own exhibit openings.) By juxtaposing completed works with a LeWitt installation-in-progress, Teerink allows viewers to experience both the process and the philosophy of LeWitt’s work. Sol LeWitt provides a solid introduction to an important American artist and is appropriate for public, school, and academic libraries alike. Academic libraries with art or art history programs might want to pair Teerink’s film with Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawings (2010), which documents the installation of wall drawings at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or with Sol LeWitt: Four Decades (2000), one of the rare on-camera appearances from LeWitt in which he discusses an exhibit of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.