Sol LeWitt wall drawing exhibited at RMIT Gallery as part of new exhibition

RMIT Gallery’s exhibition, The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place, has been instigated and directed by Dr Irene Barberis (Director, Metasenta Projects and Senior Lecturer, RMIT School of Art) and co-curated with Helen Rayment (RMIT Galleries Manager). The exhibition features a major LeWitt wall drawing, as well as works from five ‘core’ international artists who knew and worked closely with LeWitt during his career, and a group of 13 contemporary Australian artists who have been impacted by LeWitt’s practice.

At the heart of RMIT’s exhibition is Sol LeWitt’s large-scale drawing, Wall Drawing #123A, generously loaned to ‘The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt Project’ by the LeWitt Family and Estate. The work was brought to life on-site at RMIT Gallery with the help of over 50 drafters – comprising of artists, RMIT staff and students.

“Bringing a work like this to RMIT is a rare opportunity. It allows audiences to encounter a LeWitt work up close, and experience its scale and presence in the gallery,” said Rayment.

LeWitt’s creative practice and conceptual approach to art was developed in the 1960s – built on the simple but radical idea that a work of art’s concept is more important than its form. LeWitt’s work exists as a set of instructions that are interpreted and realised on-site, allowing for a diverse array of people and artists to take part in his creative process.

The LeWitt work at the centre of the exhibition, Wall Drawing 123A, was selected by Barberis at Yale University in 2022. “It demonstrates such a ‘conceptual generosity’ within his art, allowing so many people the opportunity to participate; a non-hierarchical and democratic artwork”, Barberis said.

Barberis’ connection to LeWitt spans more than five decades, first meeting the American conceptual artist in New York in 1974. Barberis remained close friends with him and his family until his death in 2007, and through the generosity of the LeWitt family, was later granted residencies in his American and Italian studios. Barberis became the first artist outside the family to work in his Chester studio, and in 2022 published the only comprehensive documentary record of that studio.

Barberis’ research forms the foundation of The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt Project – an international research project that investigates the breadth and depth of LeWitt’s influence across ten countries. Prior to RMIT Gallery’s latest exhibition, iterations of the Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt have taken place in Dundee (UK), Hong Kong (China), Seoul (South Korea), and Haarlem (Netherlands).

“It is a great pleasure to include RMIT within the research architecture of this ten-country project. The partnership allows Australian artists’ practice to be encountered at full institutional scale; ideas realised, discussed, documented and carried forward through education and public programs,” said Barberis.

This exhibition inaugurates the ‘Part 2’ phase of the research project – extending the five completed ‘core artists’ exhibitions into a second international cycle, with a stronger focus on cross-cultural collaboration and knowledge exchange among artists, curators and institutions.

“As LeWitt did, this project builds communities across the world through his practice,” said Barberis.

Motivated by Australian scholarship and curatorial practice, this exhibition positions RMIT and Australia at the centre of a global conversation about conceptual art, influence and the circulation of ideas.

Exhibited alongside the Sol LeWitt wall drawing are works by international artists:

Irene Barberis (AUS/UK), John Hogan (USA), Fransje Killaars (NLD), Janet Passehl (USA) and Wilma Tabacco (AUS)

In addition to works from contemporary Australian artists:

Jonas Balsaitis, Emma Coulter, Sarah Duyshart, Robert Hunter, Robin Kingston, Simon Klose, Sara Lindsay, Jordan Mitchell-Fletcher, Kerrie Poliness, Antonia Sellbach, Jacqueline Stojanović, David Thomas and Anne Scott Wilson.

The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place is located at RMIT Gallery and runs from Friday 5 June to Saturday 29 August 2026. Free entry, no registration required.

The exhibition is also accompanied by a wider public program, and features events, workshops and performances:

Dance: Vertical View – Friday 12 June, 4:00 – 5:00pm

$5 – registrations required.

Experience ‘Dance: Vertical View’ through live performance, music and installation, where dance returns as the central, ephemeral material of the work.

Dance performance by Arianna Marchiori and Chimene Steele-Prior (M Collective); followed by a conversation with Irene Barberis, Sarah Duyshart, Anne Scott Wilson Arianna Marchiori and Chimene Steele-Prior.

The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place is curated by Irene Barberis with Helen Rayment.

A Metasenta project in partnership with RMIT Gallery.

The Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing is generously loaned by the LeWitt Family and Estate.

Banner image: Opening celebration for The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place, RMIT Gallery, 2026. Featuring works by Irene Barberis (left) and Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #123A, 2026, acrylic paint and crayon. Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt, Chester, Connecticut, USA. Photo by Keelan O’Hehir.