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Roman Opałka: The End Is Defined

29 January – 18 April 2015 | London

Christie’s Mayfair presents an exhibition that explores how we measure and perceive the passing of time. In entirely different ways, the artists Roman Opałka (1931–2011) and Darren Almond (b. 1971) explore the very essence with which we grasp the progression and flow of time itself. Touching on the concepts of the finite and infinite, their works exist on the border of the perceptible, fading in and out of existence.

‘The end is defined by the death of the artist. Death as an instrument (organ) of finitude, of the work of a lifetime, in the form of the Détails, the paintings that branch off from the single, overall work: Opałka 1965/1-∞.’— Roman Opałka

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of the first Détail work in 1965, The End is Defined will present an overview of the long and illustrious career of an artist whose work came to define his existence. Working towards counting to infinity, Opałka began in 1965 by painting the number one with white paint at the top left hand corner of a black monochrome, embarking on a journey that would gradually lead him to a completely white canvas as he introduced one per cent more white pigment into each successive Détail.

Documenting this progression through photographic self-portraits, one for each canvas that he worked on, as well as recording his voice as he counted, Opałka surpassed his goal of an all-white painting when he exceeded 5 million in 2008. There on forward counting in a realm of white, his death ultimately determined the last number that he would paint, as he reached 5,607,249 when he passed away in 2011.

The very idea of death as a finite moment is called into question in Opałka‘s 1965/1-∞ series, whilst also suggesting that his own work has entered into a realm where it continues to exist beyond his life and the picture plane.