Why do abstract artists like Richard Serra and Gordon Walters so often refuse to give titles to their works? Why do they choose a word – Untitled – that seems to be a way of avoiding words? Perhaps they do so to remind us that art is a visual experience. Rather than offering external explanations, they want us to engage with what is physically there – the contrasts of dark and light, relations between shapes and the impressions of harmony or tension that result. For both artists, visual art is special because it says something that is difficult to capture in words – and that includes the words on a wall label. (Brought to Light, November 2009)