Untitled (Ocean)

Vija Celmins's subtle reworking of a photograph has imbued this oceanscape with an intimacy in perspective and a univesal timelessness in feeling. She effaced the perpetual flux and infinite quality of the ocean by narrowing the field of vision; by truncating the scene, she isolated a segment of an otherwise vast panorama. A variety of lead densities produces the soft monochromatic forms of the undulating water. Celmins eliminated color and compositional devices, producing a field of pattern and texture-a process evincing the naturalist landscape and abstract expressionist traditions that influenced her work.