Mark Pohlad reviews Contemplations: Dan Ramirez Works from the Permanent Collection at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, on view through October 9, 2016.

Pohlad writes: “Ramirez’s works reward careful viewing. Lines gradually attenuate and vanish, the edges of pieces are painted, and shadows are cast by slightly askew interstices. But all this formal fine-tuning is in the service of larger conceptual issues concerning vision, perception and even existence itself.”