8" Measurement

Perhaps the most striking piece in the Stenn Collection is 8” Measurement, a work that many would be hard-pressed to describe as a “drawing.” Although the work’s marks seem to serve an obvious purpose, their true importance lies in the way they extend Mel Bochner’s interest in questioning the veracity of words and images. While the artist’s intention may have been to demarcate eight inches of width (the paper is labeled “8 x 8” in the lower-right corner), the points of the arrows extend past the printed outline of the grid, but not far enough to touch the physical edge of the paper. This piece led to a rich investigative body of work involving measurements, which yielded some of Bochner’s most powerful and influential visual statements.