Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Advanced Search
Order/Disorder/Ascension/Descension by Al Held
Photo CreditGSA\Sarah Puleo
Order/Disorder/Ascension/Descension
Photo CreditGSA\Sarah Puleo

Order/Disorder/Ascension/Descension

Artist
Year1977
Classification painting
Medium acrylic on cavas
Dimensionseach: 13 x 90 ft. (396.2 x 2743.1 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location
  • Held worked for 21 months to complete these monumental paintings for the Social Security Administration.  Order/Disorder/Ascension/Descension consists of two murals executed in acrylic on canvas, each 13 feet high by 90 feet long.  They are composed of large black and white geometric designs that appear to advance and recede as the perspective changes.  Stripped of color and having no subject except the reality of painting itself, each of the works takes the single point perspective that orders our vision of the world and multiplies it a hundred-fold to create an endless array of spatial illusions.  It is an art of movement and change that well suits its urban environment.  Full appreciation of the murals requires the viewer to walk back and forth in order to perceive the dynamic designs that appear to float on the wall.  Of the work, Held said, "It is my hope that the experience of walking through, into and around a space of this scale will also enrich the perceptions of the observer, projecting them into a state beyond the visual experience."