Entering the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is like being transported to some sort of alternate reality, where it's okay or even normal to have a Titian just hanging around. As visitors enter, an open-air garden greets them with the sensation of a springtime so ideal that it could never have occurred. On all sides are rooms so filled with artistic treasures that it seems surreal to consider that a woman actually lived here among them. Within the brocaded walls, ancient statuary and valuable paintings, is the Special Exhibition Room, the only room that ever changes in Isabella's "ark."
Here, Sol Lewitt and Paula Robison have collaborated to create "Variations on a Theme," a one-room installation that could not stand out more in the traditional museum. The room has been painted blindingly white, contrasting with the heavy brocade elsewhere in the museum; rather than having works hanging on the wall, the wall is the work. On it Lewitt has painted multicolored, brilliant and sinuous ribbons of color. Each band carries on around the whole room, sometimes ending when it encounters the floor or ceiling, but visually continuing back into existence on the next wall. The green, red, purple, blue, yellow, orange, black and gray lines create a rhythmic, pulsing atmosphere.
How does Paula Robison fit into this? Robison is a classical flutist and Lewitt's friend, whom he asked to work with him on this project. At its opening, she played a classic work for flute in the room. Now, every day at a random time, a quartet plays chamber music for flute. Since the times are random, it is best to check the schedule online beforehand if you want to see the live performance; the Gardner Web site also recommends reserving your spot (which, unfortunately, you must do in person), since only 25 people are allowed in the room at a time.
The music and the wall painting are supposed to interact in some way, but the collaboration aspect of the work is easy to miss if you happen to visit at the wrong time of day. Luckily, the installation does not suffer much if it is seen without music, despite its original intent.
Lewitt, a leading figure in the conceptual art movement, has proved his worth with this dynamic wall drawing. Viewed from the middle of the room, the bands of color create a movement dynamic enough that it makes the viewer turn around and follow whatever color catches the eye.
The intersections of the colors create another fascinating element. Color theory suddenly seems as important as high school art teachers try to make it. The green and the red really do vibrate against each other, and the soft violet and goldenrod yellow pulse. The more time that is spent in the room, the more interesting and engaging the interactions between simple colors become.
The sinuous movement of the lines also holds the visitor's attention. The lines do not statically move around the room in parallel. Rather, they creep up and down the wall, creating knots where multiple colors occupy several feet of wall space as well as some expanses of white wall. The visual elements create a rhythm that echoes music so strongly that the theme of musical collaboration can be sensed even sans flute.
"Variations on a Theme" is definitely worth seeing, especially if you are interested in either musical or artistic minimalism. In fact, next to the vibrant collaboration between Lewitt and Robison, the rooms full of dark, lovely Renaissance masterpieces become just a bonus.
