CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/3/2020

Relaxed mastery in the "Afternoon Paintings" of Stanley Whitney

"Untitled" (2017) is reproduced from Stanley Whitney: Afternoon Paintings, Lisson Gallery's new collection of the artist's small paintings made late in the day with the paint left over from his larger canvases. Essayist Lynne Tillman writes, "Whitney tells me after working carefully crafting big pieces, he likes to paint smaller ones, because, at the end of the day, 'I’m more relaxed, more loose, more carefree, and I’m kind of tired, too.' Seriously, I had never heard an artist say he works when he’s tired. I ask why, when tired: 'Because after working so hard and being serious, after struggling with is it right or is it wrong, I feel I open up, then I can see what happens, not putting pressure on myself.' Also, he explains, the shifts in size allow him 'to think differently. And to move differently.' I think about how in writing size shapes it too—a long work compared with a short one, duration and concision. These different exigencies do make artists think differently. Scale must always be considered, it makes its own demands."