A few months ago, I took a birthday trip up north to visit The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art - one of the largest contemporary art museums in the country. The place is enormous. Once a thriving factory complex in North Adams, it’s now a vast network of galleries. The buildings alone are worth the visit: industrial brick and beams balanced with just enough modern renovation to feel fresh without losing their history. There’s even an old boiler room, completely decrepit, that you can wander through.
Inside, the museum housed numerous exhibits and artists, but the highlight for me was the three floors devoted to Sol LeWitt. LeWitt, one of the founders of Conceptual Art, is known for creating wall drawings carried out by teams of artists following his written instructions. In 2008, Mass MoCA opened a twenty-five-year exhibition of 105 of these works, spanning three floors and covering more than an acre of wall space. The installation offers a sweeping view of his career - from the stark black-and-white line drawings of the 1960s to the later, vibrant color fields and intricate geometric patterns. Walking through feels almost architectural - his systematic rules unfold into something vast and immersive, yet still playful and alive.
One wall text described it perfectly: “LeWitt’s methodology has inspired many to liken him to a composer and his work to a score that can be played by any number of musicians. Like music, LeWitt’s art is ephemeral - his wall drawings are often painted over at the end of an exhibition, though they can be executed again on another wall, at another time.”
Photos: Swain McCaughrin
By the end of the day, I felt like I’d walked through both history and imagination - the factory buildings telling one story, the art inside opening up countless others. Afterward, we stopped by the on-site microbrewery for a beer and a game of Trivial Pursuit - the perfect way to let it all sink in.
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References
Wall text for Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, 2025.