Visual Thinking – Research Paper

7/25/2019 Visual Thinking Research Paper

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MinimalismRoel Casino


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Background

During the 1960s, works in art often became increasingdicult and com!le"# $n res!onse, some artists went tho!!osite direction, creating works with a bare%bones, bbasics a!!roach that drew attention to form and materrather than content or meaning# &he result was namedminimalism, named by art critic Barbara Rose 'Baughm

Minimalism is a style characteri)ed by an im!ersonal auanonymous methods, !lain geometric con*gurations wedged !lanes, industrially !rocessed materials, and an sensibility de+elo!ed in reaction to the !ainterly, emotiforms of bstract -"!ressionism 'Col!itt and .ant(#


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Background 'Continued(

/nlike the bstract -"!ressionists, many of the aassociated with Minimal art !roduced three%dimeworks# Rather than car+ing or modeling forms intraditional materials, Minimal artists used industmaterials to create !recisely de*ned, !rimarily r

angular sha!es 'Col!itt(# ne of the de*niti+e characteristics of Minimalis

condition of obecthood# +oiding re!resentationillusion, and e"!ressi+e form, Minimal obects asthe ontological 'e"istence( status of furniture or

real things, but without !racticality or function 'C


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Minimalism reected the emotional content of abe"!ressionism# $nstead, such work2called !ost%!ainterly abstraction2remo+ed subects and !eentirely from the !icture# &he work was not a !icanything but itself# 'Baughman(

Minimal art a+oided *gure%ground relationshi!s !ainting and any anthro!omor!hic reference thaassociate it with scul!tural statuary 'Col!itt(#

Minimal !ainters tended to work monochromaticneutral, industrial colors 'Col!itt(#


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Minimal art a!!ears to many critics to re3ect, or e+en cethe dehumani)ation of industrial society symboli)ed by tassembly line because of its lack of creati+e techni4ues ae"!ressi+e moments con+eyed through the artist5s hand

ome critics recogni)ed the seriousness of the mo+emenfound the work essentially boring 'Col!itt(#

Barbara Rose went so far as to suggest that the boredome+oked was a test of the +iewer5s commitment# &he s!ecwas bored was the one who a!!roached the work withe"!ectations informed by !re+ious art, from the s!atialcom!le"ities of Cubist com!ositions to the emotional intr

bstract -"!ressionism 'Col!itt(#


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s a highly theoretical mo+ement, Minimalism was the subect of a greacritical writing, with the artists themsel+es authoring many of the most

te"ts 'Col!itt(#

7e+er before in history had artists !layed such a !rominent role in intel

articulating the ideas behind their art, a res!onsibility usually left to crit

&his shift in authority is !artially due to the fact that the Minimalists8 ge

was the *rst to be educated not in art schools or academies, but uni+er

where studies in art history and !hiloso!hy com!lemented studio traini

-ducated to think and write, the artists concei+ed of their contributions

and !hiloso!hical terms 'Col!itt(#

&he Minimalists8 tendency to e"!lain their own art in3uenced the follow

mo+ement of Conce!tual art, which used language itself as a medium '


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Donald udd

$n his early !aintings, which he later termed :haabstractions;, udd endea+ored to sim!lify hiscom!ositions and eliminate the balancing of formhe felt characteri)ed !ost%war -uro!ean art#

$n their matter%of%factness and sim!licity, these

works were a logical e"tension of the Color *eld!ainting !racticed by merican artists such as B7ewman#


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Donald udd 'continued(

$n 196=, he began a series of scul!tures2or rathobects2made from materials such as aluminummasonite, and wood '>ac4uement(#

.ith these constructions, he not only abandoned!ainting, but he also dis!ensed with any sense o

s!atiality and symbolism beyond the !hysical !rof the obect itself '>ac4uement(#

&his reducti+e a!!roach led him increasingly towwhat he later referred to as ?s!eci*c obects8# uobects, he claimed, a+oided the categories of !and scul!ture by refusing the illusionism that hebelie+ed was inherent to both '>ac4uement(#


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Between 196@ and 1966, udd de+elo!ed a +ocabased on industrial materials, geometric forms, re!etition that !reoccu!ied him for much of hissubse4uent career '>ac4uement(#

&he most consistent element was the bo", which

!resented in closed, semi%hollow, or trans!arentand he refused to treat them with any symbolicconnotations '>ac4uement(#


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$n many of his later works, he !ursuedan interest in serial organi)ation aseither re!etition or mathematical!rogression '>ac4uement(#

Ae insisted that this a!!roach wasse4uential rather than com!ositional,o!erating on the !rinci!le of :nething after another;, rather than one

thing in relation to others'>ac4uement(#

ne e"am!le is this untitled work,where he attached a number ofidentical bo"es to the wall to form a+ertical column of alternating solidsand +oids of e4ual si)e '>ac4uement(#


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gnes Martin

merican !ainter of Canadian birth# he grew u!ancou+er and mo+ed to the / in 19= 'laus

he began making art in the early 19@0s, while at Columbia /ni+ersity in 7ew Eork and intermittli+ing in 7ew Me"ico 'laus(#


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gnes Martin 'continued(

Martin held her *rst one%womane"hibition at the Betty >arsons Fallery in7ew Eork in 19GH 'laus(#

he constructed her !aintings on arational grid system, su!erim!osing anetwork of !enciled lines, and later,colored bands on *ne%grained can+asstained with washes of color in such away as to reconcile these a!!arently

antithetical elements 'laus(# ften the im!ression is con+eyed that

the color is 3oating oI the can+as, withthe delicately drawn !encil marksho+ering within the edges of the can+asbut not 4uite touching them, as in herwork, ;Morning; '196GJ Kondon, &ate(#


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ol Kewitt

merican scul!tor, !rintmaker, and draughtsmastudied at yracuse /ni+ersity, 7E, from 19@G toand between 19G1 and 19G= he ser+ed in the /in a!an and orea, where he was able to +isit orshrines, tem!les, and gardens 'Kewison(#

$n 19G he mo+ed to 7ew Eork, where he attendCartoonists and $llustrators chool#

Lrom 19GG to 19G6 he worked as a gra!hic desigthe architect $# M# >ei, and he began to make !awhile continuing to work as a gra!hic designer#


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ol Kewitt 'continued(

Ais career did not take oI until the early 1960s, he turned to scul!ture and became one of the lee"!onents of Minimal rt 'Chil+ers(#

Ae abandoned !ainting in 196= and began to maabstract black%and%white reliefs, followed in 196relief constructions with nested enclosures !roeinto s!ace, and bo"% and table%like constructions'Kewison(#

Ae *rst made the serial and modular works for wis best known in 196G, an idea ins!ired in !art b!hotogra!hs of -adweard Muybridge 'Kewison(#


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Ais ?structures8, as he !refers to call them,characteristically in+ol+e !ermutations of sim!leelements, sometimes arranged in bo"% or table%lconstructions 'Chil+ers(#

Ke.itt8s work, like that of other Minimalist andconce!tual artists, stressed idea o+er e"ecution'Kewison(

Lor each work, a system was worked out in ad+awhich could then be e"ecuted by an assistant asas by the artist#


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$n some cases systems were not based on theory or logwere randomly selected in de*ance of logic so that thecould not be foreseen 'Kewison(#

-stablishing a system was like de+ising the rules of a gresults of which could not be !redicted#

Ke.itt stated that his art was :7ot theoretical or illustr

theoriesJ it is intuiti+e, it is in+ol+ed with all ty!es of m!rocesses and it is !ur!oseless; 'Ke.itt, 196, !# H0(#

Ais art a!!ealed to the intellect rather than to the emo

&o this end he em!loyed materials that were abstract aneutral#


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&he sha!es drawn orconstructed by Ke.itt are basicgeometric formsN the4uadrilateral, triangle, ands!here or +ariations on them,which is shown in her work, :Two Open Modular

Cubes/Half-O#; 'Kewison( structure might consist of a

cube or series of cubes or acombination of all three formsin their +arious manifestations#
http://draweb.njcu.edu:2403/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793?q=sol+lewitt&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#F018158http://draweb.njcu.edu:2403/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793?q=sol+lewitt&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#F018158http://draweb.njcu.edu:2403/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793?q=sol+lewitt&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#F018158http://draweb.njcu.edu:2403/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793?q=sol+lewitt&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#F018158http://draweb.njcu.edu:2403/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793?q=sol+lewitt&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#F018158


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Ke.itt8s desire was to create a grammar for all hworks in which the basic unit becomes :deliberauninteresting so that it may more easily becomeintrinsic !art of the entire work# /sing com!le" bforms only disru!ts the unity of the whole# /singsim!le form re!eatedly narrows the *eld of the w

and concentrates the intensity to the arrangemethe form# &he arrangement becomes the end whform becomes the means#; 'Kewison(


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Ke.itt8s methods ha+e often been com!ared to an architect or a com!oser, !articularly in his usbasic synta" of forms for the !roduction of +ariaa theme 'Kewison(#

Aowe+er, his grammatical concerns, his +iew of work of art as a system and the methods he emre+eal an anity with linguistic theory, in !articuthe structuralist concerns of Lerdinand de aussRoland Barthes#

$n this way, Ke.itt subected the basic elementsstructures of his +isual language to a rigorous

e"amination#


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Conclusion

fter a !eriod of inattention in the late 190s an19H0s, Minimal art resurfaced as an in3uence onidenti*ed as 7eo%Feo 'Col!itt(#

7ew meanings were gi+en to Minimalism5s disintuse of geometry and serial structures 'Col!itt(#

&hese inter!retations acknowledge the !i+otal !of Minimalism at the end of the modern !eriod '


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.orks Cited Ognes MartinN Morning, acrylic and !encil on can+as, 1#H=P1#H1 m, 196G 'Kondon, &ate(J Q =00 gnes Martin

ociety 'R(, 7ew Eork, !hoto creditN &ate, Kondonrt Resource, 7E#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "f

>ress# .eb# Dec# =01G#Shtt!Nwww#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticleimggro+eartL0196T#

Baughman, udith # et al#O&he rt of KessN Minimalism#O American Decades# -d# ol# N 1960%1969# DetroitN FaVirtual Reference Library# .eb# =1 ct# =01G

Chil+ers, $an# OKe.itt, ol#O The Oxford Companion to Western Art# -d# Augh Brigstocke# Oxford Art Online# "f

>ress# .eb# Dec# =01G#Shtt!Nwww#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticleo!rt11He1@66T#

Col!itt, Lrances# OMinimalism#O ncyclopedia of Aesthetics# -d# Michael elly# Oxford Art Online#"ford /ni+ersi

ct# =01G# htt!Nwww#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticleo!rt=@e0G6#

udd, Donald# :/ntitled;, gal+ani)ed iron and lac4uer, twel+e units, each 1016P==9PH mm with ==9 mm int

Eork, Museum of Modern rt(J Q udd LoundationKicensed by F, 7E, htt!Nwww#+agarights#com, !hoto Q M

rtKicensed by CKrt Resource, 7E#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "ford /ni+ersity >ress# .eb# =9

laus ttmann# OMartin, gnes#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "ford /ni+ersity >ress# .eb# Dec#

=01G# Shtt!Nwww#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticlegro+eart&0G@6@=T#

Kewison, eremy# OKe.itt, ol#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "ford /ni+ersity >ress# .eb# Dec# =01G#

htt!Nwww#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticlegro+eart&0G09#

>ac4uement, lfred, and &om .illiams# Oudd, Donald#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "ford /ni+ersity >

=01G#

.ant, Christo!her# OMinimalism#O Grove Art Online# Oxford Art Online# "ford /ni+ersity >ress# .eb# =1 ct# =0

www#o"fordartonline#comsubscriberarticlegro+eart&0GH9#
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0356http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0356http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T058397http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T058397http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050793http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0356http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0356http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0356

Visual Thinking – Research Paper

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