5 Star Show. Jack Whitten: The Messenger at MoMa

If you are in New York there is an extraordinary show up at MoMA, Jack Whitten: The Messenger.  It is an expansive look at an innovative and, at times, elusive artist. His style doesn’t fit neatly into a movement or thread within an art historical taxonomy. 

While these kind of incredibly diverse stylistic practices can be brilliant, they can also cause them to be overlooked. That is why exhibition-making is so important—to provide cogency and context to an artist who doesn’t conform to the conventions of their day.  

Looking at the surface of any of his works, gives you very little insight into how they were made.  They were in fact created from tools Whitten called “developers” which in some cases were small and resembling Afro combs but others were huge, almost unwieldy triangular structures that required a great deal of physicality to use. 

The images themselves were rooted in their time resembling early grainy space photographs and Xeroxed images (Whitten had a residency at Xerox) but at other times imbue a sense of ancient tile mosaics, remarkably produced only with acrylic paint.  

My favorite is a blue and white work from the 1970s (pictured below), where Whitten has alternated the ridge lines of his composition. No longer only horizontal, the lines vibrate against each other where the actual act of looking—the movement of the viewer’s eye—allows one to experience an incredible optical affect akin to a surface woven in color, line form and technique. Whitten’s is a stunningly unique practice, brilliantly laid out in this must see, 5-Star show.