When Van de Weigh Fine Art exhibited a series of so-called ‘single stacks’ by Donald Judd at their West 23rd Street gallery in 2004, great care was taken to hang the works at a precise height of 62 and 1/4 inches. The story goes that although Judd had originally specified a hanging height of just 62 inches, in rising appreciation of these pieces’ specific spatial relationship to the wall, viewer and floor, he changed his mind at the end of the 1960s and revised the measurement—increasing it by a quarter of an inch. In reference to ‘picture-perfect’ hanging heights this work comprises a single chalk line pinged onto the gallery wall at the curator's eye level.

Blamey first encountered chalk line reels (such as the device used here) when working on a building site in Kensington after graduating from the Royal College of Art in the late 1980s. Bricklayers used the tool when rebuilding walls that he was employed to demolish as a casual labourer. However, what it is you essentially find yourself thinking about when looking at this line may differ from what you imagine you’re supposed to be thinking about. The title, 'Horizon' implies that the ‘facts’ about the work’s negligible actuality are less important than it’s fundamental capacity to spark thoughts of wider spaces that exist elsewhere.

Horizon
2010

Chalk drawing
Dimensions variable
Edition of 5

2010
Ink and pencil on paper
21 x 29.7cms

Review
Horizon
Horizon
Horizon
Horizon