Alanna Spence
Minimalism Seminar
CCA 2007
Process I (Anti-Object) Robert Morris Anti-Form, Lucy Lippard Eccentric Abstraction
This weeks readings take a nearly 180° turn from the beginnings of Minimalism while still building on it’s principles of simplification of form and content in order to emote an instant response from the viewer. The same premises exist: The artist is trying to find a pure, elegant solution to art, and is hoping the viewer will experience an instantaneous understanding of the work. Like the earlier works, there is no hidden meaning, what you see is what you get. What is very different is in the choice of materials, and what emotions those materials evoke in the viewer.
Robert Morris, in his article: Anti-Form, reexamines materials and shapes used in his earlier works. The use of rectangular forms were an attempt to remove imposed order from the work, but even with simplified forms, an order external to the things was still permeating the work. Morris moves his focus towards the act of making itself. He felt Pollock came closest to achieving this goal. He had brought back the importance of process into art making by acknowledging the fluidity of the paint, and removing his hand by using drips. Morris Louis too had removed evidence of his hand by pouring the paint directly from the bucket. But too much attention had been given to the mythical and romantic in abstract expressionism.
Morris acknowledges an investigation of new materials is under way. Oldenburg and similar artists are experimenting with much more fluid and biomorphic materials. These new works investigate the effects of gravity, their pieces are piled randomly, stacked loosely, and chance plays a major role in the pieces. Although some of the materials used could be considered “precious” the works do not project beauty or charm.
Lucy Lippard labels this new work “Eccentric Abstraction.” She highlights a few of the artists she sees are being related to this new style. Most of the artists are trained in painting, yet have nearly all gravitated toward three-dimensional works. The focus of the work is not on formal elements but on materials, shapes, colors, and sensations. There are parallels to surrealism through an interest in exploring perversion and an attraction to gawky, awkward shapes. What is most different from early Minimalist work is the sense that these pieces seem intensely personal and intimate. They have a human, biomorphic quality to them, and seemed to have all but abandoned the machine made quality of earlier works.
The works by these artists evoke emotions in the viewer, which can be described as one or many of these descriptors: visceral, voyeuristic, biomorphic, vulnerable, repulsive, sensual, hostile, organic, humorous, grotesque, erotic. Some employ the use of opposites or asymmetry. Many pieces, such as the works by Eva Hesse, Jean Linder seem to reference abstractions of human body parts and functions. In nearly all of the works, material choices play a large part in the piece. If you aren’t allowed to touch the piece, you can still instantly know what the piece would feel like if you were to touch it.