ROMAN OPALKA

Roman Opalka (1931–2011)

He was a Polish-French conceptual artist known for his lifelong project, OPALKA 1965/1 – ∞, where he meticulously painted sequential numbers on canvases to explore the nature of time and infinity. Born in France to Polish parents, he endured WWII deportations, studied art in Poland, and later settled in France, dedicating himself to the project since 1965. His unique artistic practice involved adding one percent white paint to the background of each subsequent canvas, with the aim of eventually painting white on white, representing "blanc merite" (white well earned). Hoping not to die before he would paint white on white.

Rene Rietmeyer created together with Roman Opalka the project "Time Passing", the photos resulting out of this project became a limited edition series.

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