How Questlove Learned to Love Silence

Ahmir Thompson (a.k.a. Questlove of The Roots) is a very busy dude. He was feeling stretched thin, until he discovered the power of silence to let his creativity cut through the noise. To help him find that silence, he’s got one of Yves Klein’s Blue Monochrome prints on his wall at home. Abbi gets up close to one of Klein’s blue paintings and Kazimir Malevich’s “Suprematist Composition: White on White” and discovers how deep a single color can get -- if you just give it some time.

Also featuring: Ellen Davis and Anne Umland

Yves Klein, Blue Monochrome, 1961. Dry pigment in synthetic polymer medium on cotton over plywood, 6' 4 7/8" x 55 1/8" (195.1 x 140 cm)

(The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris)

 

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White. 1918. Oil on canvas, 31 1/4 x 31 1/4" (79.4 x 79.4 cm)

(Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1935 Acquisition confirmed in 1999 by agreement with the Estate of Kazimir Malevich and made possible with funds from the Mrs. John Hay Whitney Bequest (by exchange))