1985

The One

American, born 1947

Rebecca Medel’s The One pays homage to minimalist painter Agnes Martin, whose work Medel greatly admires. Functioning as a three-dimensional mandala—an aid to meditation—it is based on the symbolism of the number one, the circle, and the square. (The number one is related to the mystic center, the circle represents heaven, and the square is the symbol for the earth.) Through modulating shifts from dark gray to white on single strands of thread tied into repetitive sheet bends—knots used by sailors—the artist creates a contradictory illusion of a solid sphere of light in the center of the cube—an ordering of the two opposites into a united whole or The One. Considered Medel’s tour de force, The One was exhibited in the 12th International Biennial of Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland.