Blind Time is a mini-retrospective of drawings by Robert Morris which began 28 years ago. The reception for the artist opened on May 9, 2000 at Lance Fung Gallery and celebrated the gallery’s fifth anniversary. Since the seminal Blind Time I drawing series initiated in 1973, Morris has continued the task of re-defining drawing for himself with six complete Blind Time series to date.  Blind Time I, 1973, Morris discovered a new drawing technique; the process of working blindfolded. Working on a size that the body could reach with outstretched arms and using only his hands blackened with powdered graphite or graphite mixed with plate oil, Morris set himself simple tasks involving varying pressures of rubbing, estimated distances, opposed or inverse hand movements, mnemonic tests, etc.

Blind Time II, 1976, in this series a woman blind from birth executed the drawings under Morris’s supervision. Blind Time III, 1985, realized while continuing to extend the production of the Blind Time works via a priori physical tasks. Blind Time IV, 1991, each work of this extensive series quotes the American language philosopher Donald Davidson and revolves around issues of agency, event, action and metaphor. Blind Time V, 1999, the most personal, smallest in scale and fewest in number, these works change materials (ink on plastic film rather than paper). Morris works over three pre-inscribed geometric elements that recall Durer’s famous print. Blind Time VI, 2000, extending the range and scale of the materials used in series five, these works elevate the linguistic element to a greater visual prominence. The format of the small textural notations that appear in the first four series are written in reverse and unreadable without a mirror. These reflections on issues of mortality and innateness allow the enlarged caption/title of each drawing to work against the graphic and plastic elements of the drawing.