Roman Opalka. Passages

About

Five Passages exist, the first (marking one million) and final (marking five million) of which are currently on view in the opening exhibition of the Met Breuer, New York, titled Beginning 5 April 2016, Dominique Lévy is pleased to present Roman Opalka: Passages in its London gallery. The exhibition will feature three important paintings from the 1965/1 - ∞ series, called Passages, each of which marks the culmination of one million consecutive numbers. Five Passages exist, the first (marking one million) and final (marking five million) of which are currently on view in the opening exhibition of the Met Breuer, New York, titled Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible. In Roman Opalka: Passages, Dominique Lévy Gallery will unite the second, third, and fourth Passages.

In 1965, French-born Polish artist Roman Opalka began a project that would occupy the entirety of his career and trace the course of his life, titled 1965/1 - ∞. The paintings—or Détails—of 1965/1 - ∞ each constitute a part of the whole, and comprise rows of tiny, rhythmically progressing numbers painted in sequence from one canvas to the next. Understanding this project as inextricably related to his own mortality, Opalka famously said, ‘It is important that the last Detail should not be finished by me, but by my life.’ By the time of his death, the artist had painted more than five million numerals on 233 canvases.