Sol LeWitt’s 1974 piece "Incomplete Open Cubes" conveys the artistic technique of seriality, which was integral to the art of the 1960's. In this work, the artist identified 122 unique variations of an incomplete cube. These ‘open cube’ structures had between one and nine limbs removed, but always with the structure remaining three-dimensionally connected.

It was Abbas’s encounter with these works at MASS MoCA in 2016 that provided her with new insights into her own practice, specifically with regard to his treatment of the cube and his explorations of colour. In the current exhibition, Abbas draws upon this intimate encounter, incorporating her understanding and experience of LeWitt’s systems into her own personal language.

In direct reference to LeWitt’s Incomplete Open Cube, Abbas’s series of nine marble ‘drawings’ entitled Open Cube: After LeWitt (2019) each of which appropriates one of the Incomplete Open Cube drawings. In contrast to LeWitt’s line drawings, the broken forms are filled in with jet black marble which adds more density to the shapes and reinstates her fascination with the colour black.