Tyler Hobbs on Agnes Martin’s Enduring Power
Hobbs makes use of digital, robotic, and traditional tools—including algorithms, mechanical plotters, and paint—as part of a process that has been shaped by the methodical and mathematical sensibilities of several 20th-century artists. One of his greatest influences is Agnes Martin, whose painstaking calculations yielded meticulous abstractions in the form of intricate grids and bands of alternating colors. Martin sought to express a transcendent state of mind, or state of being, through her explorations of the sensorial and phenomenological effects of color and line.
Hobbs spoke with Claire Selvin about Martin’s impact on his aesthetic point of view and development as an artist on the occasion of "QQL: Analogs", an exhibition of his large-scale paintings at Pace in April 2023.