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30.3: Dematerialization

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    Conceptual Art

    Conceptual art is defined by concepts or ideas taking precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns.

    Learning Objectives

    Relate the development of conceptual art to both formalism and the dematerialization of art

    Key Takeaways

    Key Points

    • Conceptual art emerged as a movement during the 1960s. In part, it was a reaction against formalism articulated by the influential New York art critic Clement Greenberg.
    • Some have argued that conceptual art continued this dematerialization of art by removing the need for objects altogether, while others, including many of the artists themselves, saw conceptual art as a radical break with Greenberg’s formalist modernism.
    • French artist Marcel Duchamp paved the way for the conceptualists, providing examples of prototypically conceptual works such as his ready-mades.
    • Conceptual artists began a far more radical interrogation of art than was previously possible. One of the first and most important things they questioned was the common assumption that the role of the artist was to create special kinds of material objects.
    • The notion that art should examine its own nature was already a potent aspect of the influential art critic Clement Greenberg’s vision of modern art during the 1950s.

    Key Terms

    • conceptualist: An artist involved in the conceptualism movement.
    • dematerialization: The act or process of dematerializing.

    Formalism, Dematerialization and the Commodification of Art

    Conceptual art is defined by the concepts of a work taking precedence over the traditional aesthetic and material concerns. It began to emerge as a movement during the 1960s, in part as a reaction against formalism as then articulated by the influential New York art critic Clement Greenberg. According to Greenberg, modern art followed a process of progressive reduction and refinement toward the goal of defining the essential, formal nature of each medium. The task of painting, for example, was to define precisely what kind of object a painting truly is: what makes it a painting and nothing else. For example, if the nature of paintings is as flat canvas objects onto which colored pigment is applied, elements such as figuration, 3-D perspective illusion, and references to external subject matter were extraneous to the essence of painting and should thus be removed.

    Some have argued that conceptual art continued this dematerialization of art by removing the need for objects altogether while others, including many of the artists themselves, saw conceptual art as a radical break with Greenberg’s formalist modernism. Later artists continued to share a preference for art to be self-critical and a distaste for illusion. However, by the end of the 1960s it was clear that Greenberg’s stipulations for art to continue within the confines of each medium and exclude external subject matter no longer held traction. Lucy Lippard, an internationally known writer, art critic, activist and curator from the United States, was among the first writers to recognize the dematerialization at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. Her book Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972 remains a seminal text on the subject.

    Conceptual art also reacted against the commodification of art, attempting subversion of the gallery or museum as the location and determiner of art and the art market as the owner and distributor of art. Many conceptual artists’ work can therefore only be known through documentation such as photographs, written texts, or displayed objects, which some might argue are not in themselves the art. Conceptual art is sometimes reduced to a set of written instructions describing a work without actually making it, emphasizing the notion of the idea as more important than the artifact.

    Precursors

    French artist Marcel Duchamp paved the way for the conceptualists, providing examples of prototypically conceptual works such as the ready-mades. The most famous of Duchamp’s ready-mades was Fountain (1917), a standard urinal basin signed by the artist with the pseudonym “R.Mutt” and submitted for inclusion in the annual, unjuried exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York. (It was rejected.) In traditional terms, a commonplace object such as a urinal cannot be art because it is not made by an artist or with any intention of being art, nor is it unique or handcrafted. Duchamp’s relevance and theoretical influence for future “conceptualists” was later acknowledged by US artist Joseph Kosuth in his 1969 essay, “Art After Philosophy,” when he wrote, “All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually. ”

    This piece is a porcelain urinal, signed “R. Mutt 1917"

    Marcel Duchamp, Fountain: Duchamp’s appropriation of a urinal as a piece of art challenged the prevailing definition of sculpture.

    Historical Examples

    In 1953, artist Robert Rauschenberg created Erased De Kooning Drawing, which was literally a drawing by Willem de Kooning that Rauschenberg erased. It raised many questions about the fundamental nature of art, challenging the viewer to consider whether erasing another artist’s work could be a creative act, as well as whether the work was only “art” because the famous Rauschenberg had done it.

    In 1960, Yves Klein carried out an action called A Leap Into The Void, in which he attempted to fly by leaping out of a window. As with much of conceptual art, the performance is largely presented through its documentation. In 1961, Robert Rauschenberg sent a telegram to the Galerie Iris Clert which said: “This is a portrait of Iris Clert if I say so” as his contribution to an exhibition of portraits. In 1969, Vito Acconci created Following Piece, in which he followed random members of the public until they disappeared into a private space. The piece is presented as photographs.

    Contemporary Influence

    The first wave of the conceptual art movement extended from approximately 1967 to 1978. Early concept artists like Henry Flynt, Robert Morris, and Ray Johnson influenced the later movement of conceptual art. Conceptual artists like Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, and Lawrence Weiner have proven influential on subsequent artists, and well-known contemporary artists such as Mike Kelley and Tracey Emin are sometimes labeled second- or third-generation conceptualists or post-conceptual artists.

    Contemporary artists have addressed many of the concerns of the conceptual art movement. While they may or may not term themselves conceptual artists, ideas such as anti-commodification, social and/or political critique, and ideas/information as medium continue to be aspects of contemporary art, especially among artists working with installation art, performance art, net art, and electronic/digital art.

    Minimalism

    The term minimalism is used to describe a trend in design and architecture in which the subject is reduced to its necessary elements.

    Learning Objectives

    Describe the elements of minimalist architecture and design and the influence of Japanese tradition

    Key Takeaways

    Key Points

    • Minimalist design has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. In addition, the work of De Stijl artists is a major source of reference for this style.
    • The term minimalism dates to the early 19th century and gradually became an important movement in response to the ornate design of the previous period. Minimalist architecture became popular in the late 1980s in London and New York.
    • The concept of minimalist architecture is to strip everything down to its essential qualities to achieve simplicity.
    • Zen concepts of simplicity transmit the ideas of freedom and essence of living. Simplicity is not only an aesthetic value, it has a moral perception that looks into the nature of truth and reveals the inner qualities of materials and objects.

    Key Terms

    • Zen: A philosophy of calm reminiscent of that of the Buddhist denomination.
    • aesthetic: Concerned with beauty, artistic impact, or appearance.

    The term minimalism can be used to describe a trend in design and architecture in which the subject is reduced to only its necessary elements. Minimalist design in the west has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. In addition, the work of De Stijl artists is a major source of reference for this style. De Stijl expanded the ideas that could be expressed by using basic elements such as lines and planes organized in very particular manners.

    An image of the exterior of the Barcelona Pavilion. Three people sit on a bench outside. The exterior wall is simple and there are glass doors leading inside. In the foreground is a clear pool over many rocks.

    Barcelona Pavilion: The reconstruction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s German Pavilion in Barcelona is minimalist in its use of space and pared down architectural elements.

    Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe adopted the motto “less is more” to describe his aesthetic of arranging the numerous necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity. By enlisting every element and detail to serve multiple visual and functional purposes, such as designing a floor to also serve as the radiator or a massive fireplace to also house the bathroom, spaces become visually pared down and highly functional.

    Minimalist architecture became popular in the late 1980s in London and New York, a few decades after the movement’s prevalence in other art forms. White elements, cold lighting, large open spaces with minimal objects and furniture, and a simplified living space revealed the essential quality of buildings and attitudes toward life. While ornamentation is spare, it’s not totally absent. Instead this style maintains the idea that all parts, details, and joinery have been reduced such that nothing could be further removed to improve the design.

    Minimalist design and architecture accounts for light, form, material, space and location. In minimalist architecture, design elements convey the message of simplicity. The basic geometric forms, elements without decoration, simple materials and repetitions of structures represent a sense of order and essential quality. The movement of natural light in buildings reveals simple and clean spaces. In late 19th century, as the arts and crafts movement became popularized in Britain, people valued the attitude of “truth to materials.” Minimalist architects humbly listen to figure, seeking essence and simplicity by rediscovering the valuable qualities in simple common materials.

    The idea of simplicity appears in many cultures, especially the Japanese traditional culture of Zen Philosophy. Zen concepts of simplicity transmit the ideas of freedom and essence of living. Simplicity is not only an aesthetic value, but has a moral perception that considers the nature of truth and reveals the inner qualities of materials and objects for their essence. For example, the dry rock garden in Ryoan-ji temple demonstrates the concepts of simplicity from the considered setting of a few stones and a huge empty space. Ryoan-ji, attributed by some scholars to the famous landscape painter and monk Sōami, is believed to have originally been designed with the concept of shakkei, in which background landscape is incorporated into the composition of the garden.

    Image of the Ryoan-ji zen garden at the temple. The garden features larger rock formations arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles raked into linear patterns.

    Ryoan-Ji Temple: Ryoan-Ji Temple is a Zen temple that exemplifies the minimalism and simplicity that is typical in Japanese design.

    Process Art

    Process-based art focuses on the creative journey instead of the end product.

    Learning Objectives

    Contrast the focus of process art with that of product-focused artists

    Key Takeaways

    Key Points

    • The processes involved in creating art are any actions used to make a work of art.
    • The process art movement began in the U.S. and Europe in the mid-1960s. It has roots in performance art and Dadaism.
    • In process art, the ephemeral nature and insubstantiality of materials are often showcased and highlighted.
    • Process art and environmental art are directly related. Process artists engage the primacy of organic systems, using perishable, insubstantial, and transitory materials.

    Key Terms

    • ephemeral: Something which lasts for a short period of time.

    Background

    Process art is an artistic movement and creative sentiment in which end product is not the primary focus. The processes referred to are those of creating art: the gathering, sorting, collating, associating, patterning, and the initiation of actions that must be in place. Process art is concerned with actual creation and how actions can be defined as art, seeing the expression of the artistic process as more significant than the product created by the process. Process art often focuses on motivation, intent, the rationale, with art viewed as a creative journey that doesn’t necessarily lead to a traditional fine art object destination.

    Process Art Movement

    The process art movement began in the U.S. and Europe in the mid-1960s. It has roots in performance art, the Dada movement and, more traditionally, the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock. Change, transience, and embracing serendipity are themes in this movement. In 1968, the Guggenheim Museum hosted a groundbreaking exhibition and essay defining the movement by Robert Morris, noting: “Process artists were involved in issues attendant to the body, random occurrences, improvisation, and the liberating qualities of nontraditional materials such as wax, felt, and latex. Using these, they created eccentric forms in erratic or irregular arrangements produced by actions such as cutting, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensation, freezing, or decomposition. ”

    Six neon signs in six different colors in a windmill formation. Two signs say HUMAN, and the others say DESIRE, HOPE, DREAM, and NEED.

    Human Need/Desire/Hope/Dream (Bruce Nauman, 1983): Like the live immediacy of performance art, process art is focused on the creative journey instead of a traditional fine art destination.

    In process art, the ephemeral nature and insubstantiality of materials are often showcased and highlighted. Process art and environmental art are directly related: process artists engage the primacy of organic systems, using perishable, insubstantial, and transitory materials such as dead rabbits, steam, fat, ice, cereal, sawdust, and grass. The materials are often left exposed to natural forces like gravity, time, weather, or temperature in order to celebrate natural processes.

    Process Art Precedents

    Inspiring precedents for process art that are fundamentally related include indigenous rites, shamanic and religious rituals, and cultural forms such as sandpainting, sun dance, and tea ceremonies. For example, the construction process of a Vajrayana Buddhist sand mandala by monks from Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, New York was recorded and exhibited online by the Ackland’s Yager Gallery of Asian Art. The monks’ creation of a Medicine Buddha mandala began February 26, 2001 and concluded March 21, 2001, and the dissolution of the mandala was on June 8, 2001, demonstrating that the process of creating the art was more important than preserving the finished product.

    The Influence of Feminism

    Feminist and intersectional sentiments in art have always existed in opposition to the white, patriarchal foundations and current realities of western art markets and art history.

    Learning Objectives

    Describe the origin, evolution, and influence of the feminist art movement during the late 20th century

    Key Takeaways

    Key Points

    • Feminism in art has always sought to change the reception of contemporary art and bring visibility to women within art history and practice.
    • In line with the development of western civilization, art in the west has been built upon white, patriarchal, capitalist values, and while women artists have always existed they have largely been omitted from history.
    • The women-in-arts movement corresponded with general developments in feminism in the 1960s and 1970s.
    • One of the first self-proclaimed feminist art classes in the United States was started in the fall of 1970 at Fresno State University by visiting artist Judy Chicago. The students who formed the program included Susan Boud, Dori Atlantis, Gail Escola, Vanalyne Green, Suzanne Lacy, and Cay Lang.
    • The strength of the feminist movement allowed for the emergence and visibility of many new types of work by women.
    • From 1980 onward, art historian Griselda Pollock challenged the dominant museum models of art and history so excluding of women’s artistic contributions. She helped articulate the complex relations between femininity, modernity, psychoanalysis, and representation.

    Key Terms

    • feminism: A social theory or political movement supporting the equality of both sexes in all aspects of public and private life; specifically, a theory or movement that argues that legal and social restrictions on females must be removed in order to bring about such equality.

    Origins

    Feminism in art has always sought to change the reception of contemporary art and bring visibility to women within art history and practice. In line with the development of western civilization, art in the west has been built upon white, patriarchal, capitalist values,
    and while women artists have always existed they have largely been omitted from history. Feminism has always existed and generally prioritizes the creation of an opposition to this system. Corresponding with general developments within feminism, the so-called “second wave” of the movement gained some prominence in the 1960s and flourished throughout the 1970s.

    The Feminist Art Program

    One of the first self-proclaimed feminist art classes in the United States, the Feminist Art Program, was started in the fall of 1970 at Fresno State University by visiting artist Judy Chicago. Chicago (born 1939) is an American feminist artist and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces which examine the role of women in history and culture. Chicago’s work incorporates artistic skills stereotypically placed upon women, such as needlework, contrasted with stereotypical male skills such as welding and pyrotechnics. Chicago’s masterpiece work is a mixed-media piece known as The Dinner Party, which is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

    Picture of a section of the installation. Differently designed plates are set with silverware and wine chalices.

    Judy Chicago’s installation “The Dinner Party” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art: The Dinner Party is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women.

    The students who formed the Feminist Art Program along with Judy Chicago included Susan Boud, Dori Atlantis, Gail Escola, Vanalyne Green, Suzanne Lacy, and Cay Lang. The group refurbished an off-campus studio space in downtown Fresno for artists to create and discuss their work “without male interference”. Participants lived and worked in the studio, leading reading groups and collaborating on art. In 1971, the class became a full-time program at the university.

    The program was different than a standard art class. Instead of the typical teaching of techniques and art history, students focused on raising their feminist consciousness. Students would share personal experiences about specific topics like money and relationships. It was believed that by sharing these experiences, students were able to insert more emotion into their artwork. Furthermore, instead of supporting the typical idea of artists being secluded and working as independent “geniuses,” the class emphasized collaboration, a radical departure for the time period.

    Feminist Art Movements: U.S and Europe

    During the heyday of second wave feminism, women artists in New York began to come together for meetings and exhibitions. Collective galleries like A.I.R. Gallery were formed to provide visibility for art by feminist artists. The strength of the feminist movement allowed for emergence and visibility of many new types of work by women. Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) formed in 1969 to protest the lack of exposure for women artists. The Ad Hoc Women Artists’ Committee (AWC) formed in 1971 to address the Whitney Museum’s exclusion of women artists.

    There are thousands of examples of women associated with the feminist art movement. Artists and writers credited with making the movement visible in culture include:

    • Judy Chicago, founder of the first known Feminist Art Program
    • Miriam Schapiro, co-founder of the Feminist Art Program at Cal Arts
    • Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Arlene Raven, co-founders of the Woman’s Building

    Both Suzanne Lacy and Faith Wilding were participants in all the early arts’ programs. Other important names include Martha Rosler, Mary Kelly, Kate Millett, Nancy Spero, Faith Ringgold, June Wayne, Lucy Lippard, Griselda Pollock, and art-world agitators The Guerrilla Girls.

    The Women’s Interart Center in New York, meanwhile, is still in operation, while the Women’s Video Festival was held in New York City for a number of years during the early 1970s. Many women artists continue to organize working groups, collectives, and nonprofit galleries in various locales around the world.

    From 1980 onward, art historian Griselda Pollock challenged the dominant museum models of art and history so excluding of women’s artistic contributions. She helped articulate the complex relations between femininity, modernity, psychoanalysis, and representation.

    Current Climate

    Things are beginning to shift in terms of a more gender-balanced art world as postmodern thought and gender politics become more important to the general public. Postmodern feminism is an approach to feminist theory that incorporates postmodern and post-structuralist theory, and thus sees itself as moving beyond the modernist polarities of liberal feminism and radical feminism towards a more intersectional concept of reality.

    Site-Specific Art

    Site-specific art refers to art that has been created for a specific environment or space.

    Learning Objectives

    Give examples of site-specific art

    Key Takeaways

    Key Points

    • Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork.
    • The actual term was promoted and refined by Californian artist Robert Irwin, but it was actually first used in the mid-1970s by young sculptors such as Patricia Johanson, Dennis Oppenheim, and Athena Tacha.
    • Outdoor site-specific artworks often include landscaping combined with permanently sculptural elements. Site-specific art can be linked with environmental art, Earth art, or land art.
    • Robert Smithson and Christo and Jeanne Claude are land/Earth artists who created site-specific work.

    Key Terms

    • topographies: Detailed graphic representations of the surface features of a place or object.

    Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. The actual term was promoted and refined by Californian artist Robert Irwin, but it was actually first used in the mid-1970s by young sculptors, such as Patricia Johanson, Dennis Oppenheim, and Athena Tacha, who executed public commissions for large urban sites. Architectural critic Catherine Howett and art critic Lucy Lippard were among the first to describe site-specific environmental art as a movement.

    image

    Site-specific installation by Dan Flavin, 1996, Menil Collection.: This site-specific installation by Dan Flavin uses colored lights to illuminate this interior gallery space.

    Background

    Site-specific art emerged as a reaction to the proliferation of modernist art objects as transportable, nomadic, museum-oriented, objects of commodification, with the desire to draw attention to the site and the context of the art. Site-specific work can refer to any form of art as long as it has been created for a specific environment or space. Closely related to land art and environmental art movements, site-specific art is the broadest of the three as it is not medium -specific.

    Land Art and Earth Art

    Land art, earthworks (coined by Robert Smithson), or Earth art is an art movement in which landscape and of art are inextricably linked, so in this way it is site-specific. It is also an art form created in nature, using organic materials such as soil, rock (bed rock, boulders, stones), organic media (logs, branches, leaves), and water with introduced materials such as concrete, metal, asphalt, or mineral pigments. Sculptures are not placed in the landscape; rather, the landscape is the means of their creation. Earth-moving equipment is often involved. The works frequently exist in the open, located well away from civilization, left to change and erode under natural conditions. Many of the first works of this kind, created in the deserts of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah or Arizona, were ephemeral in nature and now only exist as video recordings or photographic documents.

    Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American land artist. His most famous work is Spiral Jetty (1970), a 1,500-foot long spiral-shaped jetty extending into the Great Salt Lake in Utah constructed from rocks, earth, and salt. It was entirely submerged by rising lake waters for several years, but has since re-emerged.

    image

    Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty: Spiral Jetty is a site specific piece of Land Art or Earth Art created by Robert Smithson in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Using rocks and earth, Smithson built a spiral-shaped relief in the lake bed. Best viewed from above, the piece is altered by the shifting waters over time and in this way is forever linked to the environment it was intended for.

    Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude, known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, are a married couple who created site-specific environmental works of art. Their works nearly always entail wrapping a large area of space or piece of architecture in a textile, and include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile (39 km)-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City’s Central Park. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art for joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes.

    image

    Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Pont Neuf, 1985: The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude are known for their site-specific works that make use of large-scale wrapping techniques. In this piece, they wrapped an entire stone bridge built over a river in Paris to mesmerizing effect.

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