Robert Ryman

White paintings, Dia Beacon From the 1950s onward Ryman worked mostly in white paint on square surfaces. That removes most of what people expect to look at in a painting, color, image and even which way is up, and leaves the physical facts: how thick the paint is, how the strokes run, how the surface meets the wall. Look at the fasteners and tape as well, because in his work they do a practical job and a visual one at the same time. Dia Beacon devotes more than one gallery to Ryman on long-term view, and those rooms are lit by natural light, so the surfaces change with the weather and the hour. Go on a bright day and give the rooms more time than seems necessary; paintings that look alike at first glance turn out to be very different.