Brice Marden, The Sisters, 1991-1993

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MELIA MARDEN:

It was a time in our life when we were not little kids anymore, but not teenagers, not totally separate.

MIRABELLE MARDEN:

But we were becoming independent.

MELIA:

Yeah. We were becoming more independent. So I think –

MIRABELLE:

Or showing our personality.

MELIA:

Part of the inspiration for this painting was maybe our dad seeing us as separate people or having a little bit of distance, but we were still very innocent.

MIRABELLE:

All the paintings that were made at that time were really capturing that moment that’s really fleeting.

MELIA:

Yeah

MIRABELLE:

You know, that age is like — there’s a lot more freedom.

MELIA:

Yeah. I think the edge of the —

MIRABELLE:

It’s very important.

MELIA:

— of our dad’s paintings are always very important and deliberate, I think it-it’s about like an interaction with —

MELIA:

where the painting ends.

MIRABELLE:

What’s being kept inside.

MELIA:

Yeah, things are almost leaving and not quite.

MIRABELLE:

Our dad had mentioned that he had sort of seen the right side of the painting with the yellow ribbon as me, Mirabelle. And I was named after Mirabelle plums, which have a kind of like orange-golden color to them.

MELIA:

And then the darker figure, the dark blue figure is more representative of me, Melia. I don’t know why. [Laughter] Um, maybe I was a little more serious —

MIRABELLE:

You?

MELIA:

— especially at that age.

MIRABELLE:

[Laughs] I don’t think that’s changed. [Laughs]

MELIA:

Maybe I’m still more serious….[Laughter]

MIRABELLE:

I’m Mirabelle.

MELIA:

I’m Melia. And –

Both:

we’re the Sisters.

[Laughter]

MELIA:

I think we —

MIRABELLE:

Nailed it.

MELIA:

I think we did better than we thought we would.

MIRABELLE:

Totally.

MELIA:

Yeah. [Laughs]

MIRABELLE:

You took all my lines that I said last night.

MELIA:

I didn’t mean to. I just couldn’t think of anything else. [laughter]

SFX: Fade out on laughter

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This is Brice Marden’s The Sisters from 1991-93. It is a 6 foot tall by 5 feet wide abstract oil painting of a dynamic tangle of lines. The background of this artwork has been painted a sunny light yellow. Squiggling ribbons of color weave and bob and coil around each other all around the canvas, from corner to corner. The lines are loosely entwined, leaving the background clearly visible between their loops and curves. Each line is its own color: either blue, brown, muted orange, bright yellow, or a white-ish grey. And each line travels across the canvas on its own distinct path.

The striking thing about the painting is that it is impossible to determine where any one of the lines begin or end. They twist and flow, dance and swerve, surge and reverse, tumble and straighten out. Some pool at the bottom of the canvas, while others bounce off the edges, circling back toward the center.

Let’s follow the reddish-brown line. We’ll pick it up in the lower right corner, where it appears to begin. It shoots upward, hugging the right edge of the canvas. About halfway up the painting, it bends slightly inward and lassoes itself. The line then continues upward on a wavy course following the painting’s outer edge. At one point near the top, it seems to partially exit the picture, as if the artist painted right off the canvas. In the upper right corner, the ribbon branches into three tributaries. Two make a sharp downward turn. If you follow their descent, it becomes increasingly difficult to trace the path, because they begin to intersect and merge with other color lines.

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