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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

Amy Sillman

Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

Ohad + Nomi
2006
brush and ink
sheet: 20 x 15 (50.8 x 38.1)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Artist, 2013
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

Memory 2, O + N
2006
brush and ink
sheet: 30 1/4 x 22 7/8 (76.8 x 58.1)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Artist, 2013
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

O & N (study after memory drawing)
2006
brush and ink
sheet: 29 1/2 x 22 (74.9 x 55.9)
Collection of the Artist
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

O & N
2007
brush and ink
sheet: 22 x 29 1/4 (55.9 x 74.3)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Artist, 2013
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

O / N (working proof)
2007
sugarlift aquatint with graphite additions
plate: 19 3/4 x 25 7/8 (50.2 x 65.7)
sheet: 27 1/4 x 33 (69.2 x 83.8)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Artist, 2013
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

O & N (working proof)
2007
color sugarlift aquatint, spitbite aquatint, and softground
etching with gouache additions
plate: 26 × 20 (66 × 50.8)
sheet: 33 7⁄8 × 28 1⁄4 (86 × 71.8)
Crown Point Press
Courtesy of the artist
Amy Sillman, O & N, 2006–2007

O & N
2007
color sugarlift aquatint, spitbite aquatint, and softground
etching
plate: 26 × 20 (66 × 50.8)
sheet: 35 × 28 (88.9 × 71.1)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,
2011
Courtesy of the artist

The title O & N refers to the couple Ohad Meromi, a sculptor, and Naomi Frye, a writer and editor; both are friends of the artist. Using brush and ink, Sillman drew them from life and then from memory, eventually shifting to printmaking. The figures become progressively more distilled and abstract, ending up as a barely recognizable echo of the couple’s initial likeness. The artist encountered many “intermediary struggles,” some yielding images “so ugly, it’s cool.” Sillman considers a number of proofs that include her hand-painted additions independent works of art; she has exhibited them as such.

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

Back to Exhibition Introduction

"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)

Amy Sillman in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

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

Press release