One-Second Drawing (17” 2002) (Time Signature 5:1)
- Artist: John Latham
- Date: 1972
- Medium: Acrylic and enamel on wood
- Dimensions: object: 271 x 369 x 26 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is “One‑Second Drawing (17″ 2002) (Time Signature 5:1)” by John Latham, created in 1972 with acrylic and enamel sprayed onto a white wooden board. The piece shows a plain white panel dotted with black specks of paint – each dot the result of spraying for exactly one second. Latham’s series of “One‑Second Drawings” aims to capture his notion of a “least event”, the shortest departure from nothingness that can be recorded in time. In the title, 17″ 2002 marks the precise moment of execution: the seventeenth second of the twentieth minute of the second hour. The work is an elegant blend of gesture and exact timing, illustrating how minimal action can generate a perceptible event on a flat surface.
See it in person
One-Second Drawing (17” 2002) (Time Signature 5:1) is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
