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Exhibition Introduction

Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Keith
John
Leslie
Self-Portrait

Introduction
Touched Red
Green
Combination
High Green Version 1

Introduction
17 Drawings by Thoreau
Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing)
Changes and Disappearances
Where R=Ryoanji
Fire
The Missing Stone
75 Stones
Eninka
Stones
Where There is Where There

Introduction
Anne Appleby
Pia Fries
Darren Almond
Susan Middleton
Joel Fisher
Brad Brown
Tom Marioni

Introduction
Mamma Andersson
Sol LeWitt
Fred Wilson
Robert Bechtle
Kiki Smith

Introduction
Julie Mehretu
Wayne Thiebaud
Jockum Nordström
Tomma Abts
Nathan Oliveira
Chris Ofili

Introduction
Pat Steir
Laura Owens
Wayne Thiebaud
Amy Sillman

MAYBE

Yes, No, Maybe: Maybe

Pat Steir, Kweilin Dreaming 51, 1989, and Kweilin Dreaming 88, 1998; Laura Owens, Untitled (LO 425) (working proof), 2010: installation view; visible in gallery beyond is Wayne Thiebaud's River Edge, 1997
Yes, No, Maybe: Maybe

Pat Steir, Kweilin Dreaming 51, 1989, and Kweilin Dreaming 88, 1998: installation view; visible in gallery beyond is Julie Mehretu's Circulation (working proof), 2005
Yes, No, Maybe: Maybe

Laura Owens, Untitled (LO 425), 2010, installation view
Yes, No, Maybe: Maybe

Laura Owens, Untitled (LO 425), 2010; Wayne Thiebaud, Park Place (working proof 9), 1995; Park Place (working proof 13), 1995; Park Place, 1995; Black and White Park Place, 1995; Park Place Variation, 1995; Amy Sillman, Ohad + Nomi, 2006; Memory 2, O + N, 2006: installation view
Yes, No, Maybe: Maybe

Amy Sillman, Ohad + Nomi, 2006; Memory 2, O + N, 2006; O & N (study after memory drawing), 2006; O & N, 2007; O / N (working proof), 2007; O & N (working proof), 2007; O & N, 2007: installation view

Each stage in the creative process contains a series of choices — a work can develop in any number of ways. In effect, each working proof represents many possible beginnings or — maybe — a conclusion. This final gallery of the exhibition features artists who embraced the speculative and open-ended nature of the creative process. For them, testing the possibilities and permutations of reworking an image is as interesting as the image itself; the path of creative discovery trumps any preconceived ideas about the final destination. Being receptive to what may develop is essential. Maybe, these projects suggest, there is no such thing as an ultimate or right choice; instead, there are many potential resolutions.

Banner image: Detail, Pat Steir, Kweilin Dreaming 88, 1998, color woodcut with hand-painting and pen-and-ink drawing on silk mounted to paper, Crown Point Press, © Pat Steir

Next: Pat Steir

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)

"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Press release