Post-Minimalism

Post-‐Minimalism:

Earth Art/Land Art, Process Art, and Arte Povera

Post-‐Minimalism •  The term “Post-‐Minimalism” is used to designate art that is

influenced by or aAempts to develop beyond the aestheCc of Minimalism.

•  The work of Post-‐Minimalist arCsts makes a statement against the formal purity of modernism. –  Post-‐Minimalist arCsts return work to its natural state, uClize natural

materials and natural forces, return art back to the body and back to nature.

•  In visual art, Post-‐Minimalism refers specifically to the work of those arCsts who use Minimalism either as an aestheCc or conceptual reference point.

•  The term refers less to a parCcular movement than an arCsCc tendency.

•  Post-‐Minimalist artworks are usually everyday objects and use simple materials.

•  Like Post-‐Impressionism, Post-‐Minimalism is a blanket term. It includes such a diverse and disparate group of arCsts, it is impossible to enumerate all the conCnuiCes and similariCes between them.

Post-‐Minimalism •  Post-‐Minimalism is a back to nature movement but it should primarily be thought of as a criCque of form.

•  Post-‐Minimalist arCsts are influenced by Conceptualists however, they do value the expressive possibiliCes of material objects.

•  The term applies most to the arCsts’ shared effort in reacCng to the previous movement of Minimalism.

•  Even criCcs called for an end to Minimalist aestheCc, a challenge to deconstruct Minimalism by new invesCgaCons into abstracCon.

Post-‐Minimalism •  Stella’s shaped canvases from

the 1960s helped to inaugurate Minimalist aestheCc.

•  His later work, like the one shown to the right, reflect the shiW from Minimalist aestheCc toward process art and art with psychological dimension.

•  Like others, Stella chose to abandon the Minimalist aestheCc of purity and expressed abstracCon in new forms.

Frank Stella, The Pequad Meets the Jeroboam: Her Story, Moby Dick Deckle

Edges, 1993. Lithograph, etching, aquaCnt, relief, and mezzoCnt, 70” x 65 ¼”. Printed and published by Tyler

Graphics Ltd.

Earth Art •  Also known as Earthworks or Land Art. •  Earth Art is born from the scale of Minimalism’s large works.

•  Earth arCsts decide to create works outside the museum and gallery space in response to art’s commodificaCon in preceding decades.

•  Earthworks were a way for arCsts to free themselves of the gallery system. –  This however did not turn out to be the freedom they were looking for as many were sCll reliant on funding from galleries and wealthy patrons.

Earth Art •  Land art emerged out of the cultural and social revoluCon that had taken place in 1960s America. –  The 1960s witnessed the birth of environmentalism on a naConal scale.

–  The protest against the middle-‐class industrial system that suffocated the individual, forcing him or her to survive in a space (the city or factory) as well as destroying any creaCve impulse and any sense of liberty.

•  Land arCsts sought refuge from the commercial world. –  They wanted their work to be in a space where it was open to all flows of existence, to all the sensaCons and materials in the world, to a total involvement with the forms and experiences of reality.

•  As a result, viewers have to travel to many of these sights. Some, like the Roden Crater, take days to experience. You have to schedule Cme with the arCst, travel, and commit to sleeping there.

Earth Art

"I think earth is the material with the most potenCal because it is the original source material."

-‐Michael Heizer

Michael Heizer, Double Nega?ve, 1969-‐1970. 240,000 ton displacement of earth, 1,500’ x 50’ x30’. Located Mormon Mesa, Overton,

Nevada.

Earth Art

Michael Heizer (b. 1944) •  Heizer is best known for his work, Double Nega?ve located in a

remote region of Nevada.

Michael Heizer, Double Nega?ve, 1969-‐1970. 240,000 ton displacement of earth, 1,500’ x 50’ x30’. Located Mormon Mesa, Overton, Nevada.

Earth Art Michael Heizer (b. 1944) •  This piece was accomplished with the

aid of moneys from art dealer Virginia Dwan.

•  To produce this piece the arCst needed to employ bulldozers to excavate the site.

•  He found in the NV desert peaceful, untapped earth of the Mormon Mesa.

•  This piece consists of 2 slices into the earth each 50’ deep.

•  They face one another creaCng a site that is 1,500’ long and 50’ wide.

•  The viewer is placed inside the work, enclosed by it; this is instead of the usual posiCon one has in a museum or gallery where we survey the piece from the outside.

•  For Heizer and other arCsts, the untouched land was a spiritual place and desired element for their work.

Michael Heizer, Double Nega?ve, 1969-‐70, Mormon Mesa, Overton Nevada, 50 feet deep; 1,500 feet long. (Top image from the southern

end, boAom image aerial photograph).

Earth Art •  At the center of the work is a “void”-‐the result is an enclosed

site. Something Yves Klein also created in 1958.

Michael Heizer, Double Nega?ve, 1969-‐1970. 240,000 ton displacement of

earth, 1,500’ x 50’ x30’. Located Mormon Mesa, Overton, Nevada.

Yves Klein, or Le Vide (The Void) displayed at the Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, France, 1958.

Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  De Maria’s early work was heavily

influenced by Dada and other modernist art movements.

•  He gravitated then toward the Minimalist grid and industrially manufactured materials of Post-‐Painterly abstracCon and Minimalism.

•  During the 1960s, he became involved with arCst John Cage appearing in several Happenings. –  His work inspired by John Cage Ctled,

Cage was included in the 1966 “Primary Structures exhibiCon at the Jewish Museum in NY.

•  He produced Minimalist sculptures in the late 1960s including Erdraum of 1968.

Earth Art

Walter de Maria, Earth Room, Long-‐term installaCon at 141 Wooster Street, New

York City.

in various arCsCc acCviCes. His piece, "Cage", for John Cage, was included in the seminal 1966 "Primary Structures" exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York. He appeared at happenings, composed two musical works (Cricket Music, 1964; Ocean Music, 1968), and produced two films (Three Circles and Two Lines in the Desert; Hardcore, both 1969). He was also the drummer in the New York rock group The PrimiCves and an arCst/musician collaboraCve group called The Druds, a precursor to The Velvet Underground for a short Cme. •  From 1968 he

produced Minimalist sculptures and InstallaCons such as the Munich Erdraum of 1968. He realized Land art projects in the deserts of the southwest US, with the aim of creaCng situaCons where the landscape and nature, light and weather would become an intense, physical and psychic experience. AWer De Maria, the noCon of the work of art is intended to make the viewer think about the earth and its relaConship to the universe. The arCsCc pracCce of De Maria is connected with Minimal art, Conceptual art, and Land art.

Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  The piece was originally meant to be a 3

month temporary exhibit. –  It became permanent in 1980.

•  The work consists of the 2nd floor of a building in SoHo being covered with earth.

•  To experience The Earth Room mulC-‐sensory. –  When one walks into the space, you can smell

the dirt and feel the humidity in the air. •  The work is watered and raked once a week

to maintain its integrity and the dirt is periodically replaced.

•  To realize this piece, de Maria relied on his skills as a Minimalist (the contrast between the white walls and dark dirt), Conceptualist (the idea of an “earth room”), and Earthwork arCst. –  All three combine here in a unique environment

that, although it dominates the space, does not surround the viewer because visitors cannot touch or walk on the dirt.

–  It remains a liAle bit of earth preserved in a concrete city.

Earth Art

Walter de Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977. Long-‐term installaCon at 141 Wooster Street, New York City. Dirt

22” deep.

Earth Art Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  His Earth Room, on view in NYC,

is one of his best known works. •  It is the third Earth Room

executed by the arCst. –  The first is in Munich, Germany (1968).

–  The second at the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, Germany (1974).

•  These are no longer extant. •  StaCsCcs:

–  250 cubic yards of earth. –  3,600 square feet of floor space. –  22 inch depth of material. –  Total weight of sculpture: 280,000 lbs.

Walter de Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977. Long-‐term installaCon at 141 Wooster Street, New York City. Dirt 22”

deep.

Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  Lightning Field was commissioned

by DIA Art FoundaCon and is maintained by its foundaCon.

•  It is recognized as one of the 20th century’s most important examples of modernist aestheCcs.

•  De Maria’s maintains his fascinaCon with the Minimalist grid.

•  It exploits the openness of the great western landscape and its weather paAerns.

–  This area is known to have some of the most brilliant and frequent lightning strikes in the U.S.

•  When lit, de Maria’s Field joins heaven and earth in beauCful display of nature’s power.

–  The arCst had thought that given the grid design, once one rod was struck a chain reacCon would occur, this is not the case however.

Walter de Maria, Lightning Field, 1970-‐1977. Permanent Earthwork, 400 stainless-‐steel rods, with

solid stainless steel pointed Cps, arranged in a rectangular grid array (16 poles wide by 25 poles long)

distance between each 220,’ the average pole is 20’7” high. New Mexico.

Earth Art

Earth Art

Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  StaCsCcs:

–  It is made up of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid measuring one mile by one kilometer.

–  The poles are 2” in diameter and average 20’7½” in height.

•  They are spaced 220’apart and have solid pointed Cps that define a horizontal plane. Walter de Maria, The Lightning Field,

1974-‐77, near Quemado, New Mexico, 400 stainless steel poles, average height 20' 7 ½" Overall dimensions: 5,280 x 3,300' .

New Mexico.

Earth Art Walter de Maria (b. 1935) •  Lightning Field is

meant to be experienced over an extended amount of Cme. –  Dia offers overnight visits during the months of May through October.

Walter de Maria, The Lightning Field, 1974-‐77, near Quemado, New Mexico, 400 stainless steel poles, average height 20' 7 ½" Overall dimensions: 5,280 x

3,300’. New Mexico.

Earth Art

Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973)

“One’s mind and the earth are in a constant state of erosion…ideas decompose into stones of unknowing.”

-‐ Robert Smithson

Robert Smithson, Chalk-‐Mirror Displacement, 1969. Sixteen mirrors and

chalk, approx. 10” in diameter. Art InsCtute of Chicago.

Earth Art Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973) •  One reason nature appeals to

Earthwork arCsts is that, unlike the gallery or museum, it does not infringe upon the size of the work.

•  Since Abstract Expressionism’s crowning as the first “uniquely” modern American art style, the dimension of the canvas has reflected the influence of the Mexican mural painters. –  Sculptors maintain these dimensions and having the open environment as their exhibiCon space allows it.



Earth Art Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973) •  Smithson’s comment, “One’s mind and the

earth are in a constant state of erosion…ideas decompose into stones of unknowing,” indicates the growing interest of Earthwork arCsts in the natural process of erosion.

•  Their work, like many others, began to look not only at the process of erosion but of the process(es) involved in creaCng art.

•  Fuses inorganic gallery space with organic world.

•  Smithson’s displacements bring in organic material from nature into the unnatural environment.

–  Sandston from NJ brought into NYC Gallery (originally).

•  The posiConing with the mirrors creates new forms for the organic materials.

•  Smithson also argued it represented the decomposiCon of maAer and energy (the chalk) and order (the mirrors).

•  The arCst aims to present a formless, shapeless-‐hence anC-‐formalist art object; a direct challenge to the strict formalism of Greenberg’s legacy.



Earth Art Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973) •  Smithson’s best known and

most RomanCc work is Spiral JeWy.

•  He saw it as, “an impassive faint violet sheet held capCve in a stony matrix, upon which the sun poured down its crushing light.”

•  To create the piece, he deposited 6,000 tons of earth into the lake to form a giganCc spiral.

•  While excavaCng the site, he found the remains of industries that had used the site in the past like oil barrels. Robert Smithson, Spiral JeWy, 1969-‐1970.

Black rock, salt crystal, and earth, 160’ in diameter. Great Slake Lake, Utah.

Earth Art Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973) •  The spiral is graceful and

evocaCve of organic forms. •  It is a piece that conCnuously re-‐

creates and destroys itself; a testament to the power of nature to constantly reinvent itself.

Robert Smithson, The Spiral JeWy, 1970, black basalt, limestone and earth,

1,500' (aerial photograph).

Robert Smithson, Spiral JeWy, 1969-‐1970. Black rock, salt crystal, and earth, 160’ in diameter. Great Slake Lake, Utah

“…maAer collapsing into the lake mirrored in the shape of a spiral.”

-‐ Robert Smithson

Earth Art Robert Smithson (1938-‐1973) •  It changes colors throughout

the seasons (colors range from pinks and reds to blues, and brown-‐blacks) and throughout the years; it will disappear and then reappear again.

Robert Smithson, Spiral JeWy, 1969-‐1970. Black rock, salt crystal, and earth, 160’ in

diameter. Great Slake Lake, Utah

Earth Art

Nancy Holt (b. 1938) •  Holt is a mulC-‐media arCst

known for her public sculpture.

•  She is the widow of Smithson who died while surveying the site of a work.

•  Her earlier work with photography and video figure in her environmental works.

•  She takes inspiraCon for her earthworks from America’s landscape.

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-‐1978. Brown Mountain stone, diameter of outer ring 40,’ diameter of inner ring 20,’ height of walls 10.’ Western Washington University,

Bellingham, Washington.

Earth Art •  Her work resembles prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge.

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-‐1978. Brown Mountain stone, diameter of outer ring 40,’ diameter of inner ring 20,’ height of walls 10.’ Western Washington

University, Bellingham, Washington. Stonehenge, ca. 2500-‐1600BCE, Wiltshire,

England

Earth Art Nancy Holt (b. 1938) •  Stone Enclosure is site specific and

cannot be divorced from the space. •  Using her experience as a

photographer Holt carefully calculated the perspecCve of the work. –  Like Stonehenge it can be used to

track stars, the planets, the sun and moon.

•  Stone Enclosure consists of 2 concentric rings formed by stone walls 2’ thick and 10’ high.

•  The walls are penetrated by 8’ high arches and 12 circular holes 3’4” in diameter.

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-‐1978. Brown Mountain stone,

diameter of outer ring 40,’ diameter of inner ring 20,’ height of walls 10.’ Western Washington University,

Bellingham, Washington.

Earth Art Richard Long (b. 1945) •  Long’s A Line Made by Walking evokes

the Happenings of Kaprow. •  It is the artst’s first walking piece. •  Long strove for an art that was a formal

and holisCc descripCon of the real space and experience of landscape and its most elemental materials.

•  The arCst’s process is literally walking as he marks the territory he explores intervening with the natural landscape.

•  Long’s work is a RomanCc reminder of our history with the landscape as nomads, as pioneers marking new territory. Richard Long, A Line Made by

Walking, 1967. A straight line in a grass field, which was also my

own path, going 'nowhere' (England).

Earth Art Richard Long (b. 1945) •  Walking allowed Long to unite

performance and the boundaries of sculpture.

•  It allowed the arCst to deconstruct the monument of the walk.

•  He evokes Rauschenberg when he explains his works reside in the space between the monument and “just leaving footprints.” –  One is also reminded of the more

contemporary concern of how we measure our carbon footprint. His walks become visual metaphor for this concept.

•  These works are universal-‐anyone in the area can re-‐create the work, follow his footsteps, experience the walk with no interference from the art economy.

Richard Long, A Line in Scotland, 1981. Framed work consisCng of

photography and text, 34 ½” x 49”. Private CollecCon, London.

Earth Art

Richard Long (b. 1945) •  Like Smithson and de Maria, Long

brought the outdoors indoors with his circle works.

•  His indoor works demonstrate the ability to take outdoor monuments into the gallery space.

•  Long’s circles become a visual reminder of the performance associated with his walks. –  They allow the arCst to infuse the

urban environment with the natural world.

Richard Long, Ocean Stone Circle, 1990. Stones, 13’ in diameter.

Virtuelle Diathek, LA.

Earth Art •  Some of his later works recall the work of Minimalist sculptor,

Carl Andre.

Richard Long, Cornwall Slate Lines, 2003, 168 slate stones, approximately 334 ½” long.

InstallaCon dimensions: 6” x 334 3/5” x 30”. Exhibited London, Haunch of Venison, Richard

Long: Here and Now and Then, June 11 -‐ September 27, 2003.

Carl Andre, Cedar Tango, 2002. 26 Western Red Cedar Cmbers, 11.8” x11.8” x 35.4”Konrad Fischer Gallery, NY.

Earth Art

•  His Mud Circle is an organic reminder of Johns’ Target.

Richard Long, Red Mud Circle, 1994. Terra coAa clay and black acrylic paint

on wall 148” diameter. Private CollecCon.

Jasper Johns, Target, 1958. Oil and collage on canvas, 36” x 36”.

CollecCon of the ArCst.

Earth Art

Richard Long (b. 1945)

•  Some of Long’s works take a more Conceptualist approach.

•  His use of his own body not only marries his Earthworks with Performance and Body art, but the humble materials used echo those of Italy’s Arte Povera arCsts.

Richard Long Walking to a Solar Eclipse, 1999. Wall text 79” x 220”. Exhibited

Sperone Westwater.

Earth Art

Andy Goldsworthy (b.1956) •  Goldsworthy is known for his site-‐

specific Earthworks that make use of the enduring and the ephemeral.

•  He concentrates of creaCng works that reveal how humans have shaped nature and conCnue to rely and desire it.

•  He embraces the character of the site and highlights it in effort to bring the audience in communion with nature.

•  His works facilitate a relaConship with nature. Andy Goldsworthy, The Wall at

Storm King, 1997-‐1998. Fieldstone, approx. 5’ x 2,278’6” long overall.

Earth Art Andy Goldsworthy (b.1956) •  His local piece, The Wall at Storm

King features rock from the surrounding area arranged in a serpenCne wall throughout the park.

•  The wall winds around trees, travels to the water and reemerges on the other side.

•  The wall does not interfere with the environment it merely coexists with it.

•  Goldsworthy wants viewers to thinks of themes of travel of the self in and of the environment.

•  He takes the iconic image of a stone wall and uses it to remind one of strolls in the woods. Andy Goldsworthy, The Wall at Storm King,

1997-‐1998. Fieldstone, approx. 5’ x 2,278’6” long overall.

Andy Goldsworth, The Wall at Storm King, 1997-‐1998. Fieldstone, approx. 5’ x 2,278’6” long overall. Images of the wall as it meets the water

Andy Goldsworth, The Wall at Storm King, 1997-‐1998. Fieldstone, approx. 5’ x 2,278’6” long overall. Images of the wall as it meets the water aWer a Winter

snowstorm

Earth Art

James Turrell (b.1943) •  James Turrell’s largest endevor

is his project at Roden Crater (sCll under construcCon).

•  Roden Crater is a mix of environmental architecture, installaCon art, and observatory.

•  Roden Crater can be related to the earliest examples of humans manipulaCng the environment (Nanna Ziggurat and Stonehenge to Smithson’s Spiral JeWy.)

James Turrell, Roden Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona, in progress since

1980. Cinder cone volcano, approximately 540’ and 800’ diameter.

Sedona, AZ.

Light and Space Movement

James Turrell (b.1943) •  James Turrell is commonly

associated with the Light and Space Movement.

•  He used projected light to create Minimalist composiCons that also funcCon as opCcal illusions.

•  He describes his work as being not minimalist or conceptual, but perceptual.

James Turrell, Afrum-‐Proto, 1966 (corner projecCon) Quartz halogen projecCon. Installed at Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki,

Japan.

James Turrell, Roden Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona, in progress since 1980. Cinder cone volcano, approximately 540’ and 800’ diameter. Sedona, AZ.

Satellite view of Roden Crater. James Turrell, Roden Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona, in progress since 1980. Cinder cone volcano, approximately 540’ and 800’ diameter. Sedona, AZ.

Post-‐Minimalism

Site Specific Art

Post-‐Minimalism

Magdalena Abakanowicz (b. 1930) •  Fiber sculpture suspended from

the ceiling. •  Abakanowicz joins an interest in

process and organic materials with female imagery.

•  She takes much of her inspiraCon from her Polish culture and the materials Polish women use to create uClitarian objects.

•  She works with fibers because of the organic bond between plants and humans.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Red Abakan, 1969. Self-‐devised technique, sisal and mixed media, 9.8’ x 9.8’ x 11.5’ Tate,

London.

Post-‐Minimalism

Magdalena Abakanowicz (b. 1930) •  Postwar art was dominated by

abstracCon. Not many arCsts focused on the form, especially arCsts creaCng site-‐specific works.

•  Abakanowicz is unique in that many of her site-‐specific works focus on the form.

•  She is known for her serial groups of bodies known collecCvely as Backs.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Backs,

1976-‐1980. Burlap and resin, 80 pieces, each approx. 25 ¾” x 21 ¾” x 23 ¾”. Installed near Calgary, Canada, 1982. CollecConMuseum of Modern Art,

Pusan , South Korea.

Post-‐Minimalism Magdalena Abakanowicz (b. 1930) •  The seriality of Backs is inherited

from Pop and Minimalist art. •  The defining characterisCc of the

piece however is the detail and texture one finds on each sculpture.

•  The texture she accomplishes using burlap and resin makes the scene look from afar like the backs of people huddled over in group meditaCon or acCvity.

•  Each body is part of the whole. •  The bodies do not have heads and

only hints of arms and legs. •  This makes for an uncomfortable and

disturbing aspect to the piece.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Backs, 1976-‐1980. Burlap and resin, 80 pieces, each approx. 25 ¾” x 21 ¾” x 23 ¾”. Installed near Calgary, Canada, 1982. CollecConMuseum of Modern Art,

Pusan , South Korea.

Post-‐Minimalism

Pablo Picasso (1881-‐1973) •  With one of the most prolific bodies of work,

it is someCmes easy to forget that the father of Cubism conCnued to adapt his signature style well into the 20th century.

•  Chicago Monument, more commonly referred to as The Picasso represents the arCst’s mature work.

•  It is is monstrous in scale and ambiCon. •  Picasso created this public work at a Cme

when movements like Conceptualism were rejecCng the form for the idea or concept.

•  The return to a solid form by one of the most important figures of modern art is strategic.

Pablo Picasso, Chicago Monument, 1966. Welded steel, 65’9” high.

Civic Center, Chicago.

Post-‐Minimalism

Pablo Picasso (1881-‐1973) •  The Picasso is located in Daley Plaza in

the Chicago Loop. •  It is nearly 66’ high and weighs 162

tons. •  It was the first major public artwork for

the city. –  It was commissioned in 1963 by the

architects of the Richard J. Daley Center. •  The urban environment had been

replaced by Earthwork arCsts looking for untamed land and an alternaCve to the gallery space.

Pablo Picasso, Chicago Monument, 1966. Welded steel, 65’9” high.

Civic Center, Chicago.

Post-‐Minimalism Pablo Picasso (1881-‐1973) •  The Picasso was controversial when first

introduced to the public. •  Chicago, like most ciCes, had a tradiCon

of historical figures as its public sculpture-‐abstract design was new.

•  The design of the piece suggest biomorphic form, some hybrid form of sorts. –  Picasso never explained the form or the

inspiraCon for it although some, including his grandson, believe it was inspired by a young girl the arCst had met in France.

•  The importance of the piece lies not in its design, although it does reinsert the aestheCc object back into art, but in its trailblazing for public works, especially of the non-‐representaConal sort. Pablo Picasso, Chicago Monument,

1966. Welded steel, 65’9” high. Civic Center, Chicago.

Claes Oldenburg (c. 1929) •  ArCst Claes Oldenburg

first came on the art scene as a Pop arCst in NYC.

•  At that Cme rented out space in ManhaAan for his Store.

•  There he sold many Pop works of the banal.

Claes Oldenburg, The Store, located 107 East 42nd Street, NYC, December 1961.

•  Iconic works by the arCst include his Cake (1962) and Dropped Cone (2001).

Claes Oldenburg, Floor Cake (Giant Piece of Cake), 1962. SyntheCc polymer paint and latex on canvas filled with foam

rubber and cardboard boxes, 4’10 ⅜” x 9’ 6 ¼” x 4’ 10⅜”. Museum of Modern

Art, NYC.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Dropped Cone, 2001. Stainless and

galvanized steels, fiber-‐reinforced plasCc, balsa wood; painted with polyester gelcoat, 39’ 10” high x 19’ diameter. Situated on top of a shopping centre in the Neumarkt area

of Cologne, Germany.

Claes Oldenburg Typewriter Eraser, 1976. Painted aluminum, stainless steel, ferroconcrete and bronze, 89½ “x 80” x 70”. New York

Claes Oldenburg, Clothespin, 1976. Cor-‐Ten and stainless steel, 45’ x 12’3” x 4’6”. Philadelphia.

Claes Oldenburg, System of Iconography -‐ Plug, Mouse, Good Humor, Lips?ck, Switches, (formerly Objects as Icons)1970-‐1. Colored pencil on graph paper, 20 x 15 ⅜”

Claes Oldenburg, Lips?ck Monument: Ref.: Monument for Yale University:

det.: three stages of extension, c. 1969. Cardboard and canvas

Cleas Oldenburg, Lips?ck (Ascending), 1969 installed Beinecke Plaza, Yale University. Plywood tracks and a red vinyl balloon Cp, meant to be inflated for visibility.

Lips?ck (Ascending), rebuilt and relocated, 1974. Cor-‐ten steel, aluminum, and fiberglass and installed at Morse

College courtyard, Yale University.

Post-‐Minimalism Claes Oldenburg (c. 1929) •  Oldenburg conCnued to create his

large scale sculptures throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

•  Works like Spoonbridge and Cherry are, like Picasso’s piece, site-‐specific.

•  Site-‐specific means the work is create, conceived and designed, with the parCcular locaCon in mind. –  The specificity will determined

dimension as well as composiCon. •  NoCce the arCst maintains a similar

subject maAer to the work he began in the 1960s-‐celebraCng the banal in a playful and entertaining way with the spoon and cherry.

•  The design is graceful and colorful. –  The cherry’s stem even spouts water

during the warm months.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1985-‐1988. Aluminum, stainless steel, and paint,

29’6” x 51’6” x 13’6”. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Post-‐Minimalism Claes Oldenburg (c. 1929) •  Oldenburg, like many other arCsts, benefiAed from

the U.S. Percent for Art policy. –  This policy states that half of 1% of the cost associated

with any newly erected federal building must be dedicated to the beauCficaCon of the space through sculpture.

–  Because these sculptures needed to enhance the specific space, they were site-‐specific.

•  Commissioned 1975 by the Art in Architecture Program of the United States General Services AdministraCon in conjuncCon with the NaConal Endowment for the Arts.

–  Installed April 13, 1977. –  Inaugurated April 14, 1977.

•  This program resulted in the construcCon of many public sculptures.

•  The design for this piece was decided upon for several reasons: the history of the sport in the city, the resemblance of the bat to tradiConal architectural columns, the echo of shape in the smoke stacks and skyscrapers throughout the city.

•  The most notorious of which is Tilted Arc.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Batcolumn, 1977. Steel

and aluminum painted with polyurethane enamel, 96’ 8”

high x 9’ 9” diameter, on base 4’ high x 10’ diameter. Harold Washington Social Security Center, 600 West Madison

Street, Chicago.

Post-‐Minimalism Richard Serra (b. 1939) •  ArCst Richard Serra has become best known

for his public works monument, Tilted Arc. •  His early work was Minimalist inspired and

process oriented; it consisted of Serra splashing molten lead against the wall or floor. –  Serra worked at steel mills to support himself and

the experience forever influenced his work.

•  Commissioned in the mid-‐1970s, Tilted Arc was installed in 1981.

•  It is made of Cor-‐Ten steel, a material the arCst sCll works with today. –  The arCst chose this type of steel because of

its integrity, it does not need to be painted and forms a protecCve rust.

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981. Hot-‐rolled steel, height, 12’,

length 120.’ Original sight Federal Plaza, Foley Square, NY. Removed

in 1989.

"I don't think it is the funcCon of art to be pleasing," he comments at the Cme. "Art is not

democraCc. It is not for the people."

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981. Hot-‐rolled steel, height, 12’, length 120.’ Original sight Federal Plaza, Foley Square, NY. Removed in 1989.

Post-‐Minimalism

Richard Serra (b. 1939) •  Tilted Arc was installed in Foley

Square in NY in 1981. •  The design was created to echo

the shaped of the square while also serving as a counterpoint to the arcs in the bricks.

•  As its name suggests, the arc is Clted and hovers precariously in the plaza.

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981. Hot-‐rolled steel, height, 12’, length 120.’ Original sight Federal Plaza, Foley Square, NY. Removed in

1989.

Post-‐Minimalism Richard Serra (b. 1939) •  Complaints surfaced almost

immediately about the piece. •  Concerns that it would contribute to

the delinquency of the area by allowing would be muggers and rapists a place to hide were a major argument.

•  People also argued it did nothing to beauCfy the space, that it created a division in the plaza where people could have lunch, and enjoy the outdoors, (prior to its construcCon the plaza was never used) and was an obstacle for people walking through the space.

•  Others just argued it was ugly and not worth the money spent, $175,000. Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981. Hot-‐rolled

steel, height, 12’, length 120.’ Original sight Federal Plaza, Foley Square, NY. Removed in

1989.

Post-‐Minimalism

Richard Serra (b. 1939) •  Complaints against the sculpture

resulted in a public hearing in March 1985.

•  The trial was an art world affair. –  122 people tesCfied the work was art, did

not pose a threat, and should not be removed.

–  58 people tesCfied against the work. •  One person against the piece was Chief Judge Edward D. Re.

•  The case was sent to jury with a vote of 4-‐1 for removal. –  Serra appealed the case based on the

argument that the work was site-‐specific and removing it would destroy it. Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981. Hot-‐

rolled steel, height, 12’, length 120.’ Original sight Federal Plaza, Foley Square, NY. Removed in 1989.

Post-‐Minimalism

Richard Serra (b. 1939) •  On March 15, 1989

under the cover on night, Federal Workers removed Tilted Arc.

•  The work was cut into three chunks and hauled to a scrap metal yard in NJ.

•  The piece was destroyed and has never been recovered.

Night Cme removal of Tilted Arc March 1989.

Post-‐Minimalism

Maya Ying Lin (b. 1960) •  Also Minimalist inspired is the 1982 work,

Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed by Maya Lin.

•  The Vietnam Memorial was commissioned in 1981.

•  The commission involved an open-‐call to arCsts and architects to present designs for a memorial to remember the people that died during the Vietnam War. –  The war was sCll a very controversial topic in

the U.S. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982. Black granite,

length 500’. The Mall, Washington, D.C.

Post-‐Minimalism

Maya Ying Lin (b. 1960) •  At the Cme of the design compeCCon, Lin

was 21 and an undergraduate at Yale University.

•  Her design was chosen over the 1,420 others submiAed.

•  The concept behind Lin’s design was to present a monument that looked like an open gash or wound in the earth.

•  The material used was to be black granite polished to a high shine and inscribed on its surface the names of the 58,261 fallen soldiers carved into its face in order of death.

Maya Lin, Vietnam War Memorial original design

submission.

Post-‐Minimalism Maya Ying Lin (b. 1960) •  Lin’s work is Minimalist in its design, a

smart choice by the arCst because creaCng a memorial to recognize for such a contenCous war was tricky to negoCate.

•  There was some hesitaCon due to the strictly abstract design and many called for figuraCve sculpture to be added at the apex. –  FiguraCve sculptures were added

some distance away to maintain the integrity of the original design.

•  There was some controversy aWer Lin’s name and heritage were revealed. –  The arCst believes if the contest were

not a blind one, she would not have been picked because of her Asian background.

–  Nevertheless, her monument has gone on to be one of the most visited and iconic of the 20th century.

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial aerial view, 1982. Black granite, length 500’. The

Mall, Washington, D.C.

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•  Visitors to the memorial are allowed to place mementos and token near the name of their loved one and to take a rubbing of the name.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982. Black granite, length 500’. The Mall, Washington, D.C.

Post-‐Minimalism •  The highly polished surface reflects the

image of the viewer as s/he looks at the names inscribed on the stone.

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982. Black granite, length 500’. The Mall, Washington, D.C.

Post-‐Minimalism

Process Art

Process Art •  Process Art displays a concern as much for the process of creaCon as it does for the final product.

•  The object d’art is not the focus, the process of creaCon is the central focus.

•  Process art has its roots in the work of Jackson Pollock and his drip process.

•  Like Dada, it also embraces chance as part of the creaCve method.

Process Art •  Process art has been pracCce in the United States and Europe since the 1960s.

•  In 1968, the Guggenheim Museum hosted a show of Robert Morris’ work and with it published a defining essay discussing Process art. It states:

Process arCsts were involved in issues aAendant to the body, random occurrences, improvisaCon, and the liberaCng qualiCes of nontradiConal materials such as wax, felt, and latex. Using these, they created eccentric forms in erraCc or irregular arrangements produced by acCons such as cuyng, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensaCon, freezing, or decomposiCon.

•  Like environmental arCsts, Process arCsts embrace the organic and will usually uClized perishable materials in their work.

•  This use of humble materials relates it to the Arte Povera arCsts of Europe.

Process Art •  Process art is usually seen as a counter to the stability and

longevity of Minimalism. •  Process art is born out of the environmental movement and

like Earth arCsts, Process arCsts embrace the fragility of certain materials and allow Cme to be part of the creaCve force determining their work.

Process Art

Robert Morris (b. 1931) •  Like many arCsts, Morris transformed

his work from the Minimalist designs he had been creaCng to the process-‐driven works of the late 1960s.

•  Tangle is characterisCc of the arCst’s Process art. –  His felt is allowed to hang from the wall

and pool on the floor, gravity being one of the primary forces in realizing the piece.

•  Much of his Process art reinterprets Minimalist aestheCc.

Robert Morris, Un?tled (Tangle), 1967. Felt, Dimensions variable, approximately 9' 8" x 8' 10" x 58”.

Museum of Modern Art.

Process Art

Eva Hesse (1936-‐1970) •  Hesse is best known for her

pioneering work in materials such including latex, plasCc, and fiberglass.

•  Her work is amongst those arCsts leading the move from Minimalism to what was known in the 1960s as a postminimal anC-‐form trend, later to be associated with Process art. Eva Hesse, Accession II, 1968.

Galvanized steel vinyl, 30 ¾” x 30 ¾” x 30 ¾”. Detroit InsCtute of Arts.

Process Art

Eva Hesse (1936-‐1970) •  Accession II takes the hard material of

steel and makes it look soW, plush, and inviCng.

•  Each side is hand craWed and the hair-‐like appearance inside the cube is actually rubber tubing that had to be woven through holes in the sides by hand.

•  Her detail-‐oriented process greatly contradicts the cool process of Minimalism.

Eva Hesse, Accession II, 1968. Galvanized steel vinyl, 30 ¾” x 30 ¾” x

30 ¾”. Detroit InsCtute of Arts.

•  Accession II recalls Smith’s Die created just a few years earlier. •  Hesse’s work, however, is smaller in scale and more inCmate.

Eva Hesse, Accession II, 1968. Galvanized steel vinyl, 30 ¾” x 30 ¾” x 30 ¾”. Detroit

InsCtute of Arts.

Tony Smith, Die, 1962. Steel, ediCon of three, 6’ x 6’ x 6. ’ Private CollecCon.

Process Art Eva Hesse (1936-‐1970) •  Hesse is best known for her

experimentaCon with new materials. •  Hesse’s work always allowed for the

forms to emerge with the aid of natural forces.

•  Here she relies on gravity to weigh on her cheesecloths.

•  The order of design resembles the seriality of Minimalism.

•  The introducCon of gravity and the weight of the latex and fiberglass introduces a fragility to the piece as it weighs heavily to the floor and becomes vulnerable.

•  The work straddles categorizaCon as sculpture and painCng and even theatre as the viewer must negoCate each individual secCon.

Eva Hesse, Con?ngent, 1969. Cheesecloth, latex, and fiberglass in 8 panels. InstallaCon, 12’ ⅞” x 9’ 4⅜” x 3’ 2 ½”. NaConal Gallery

of Australia, Canberra.

Process Art

Lynda Benglis (b. 1941) •  Benglis became known for

her process driven work and notorious for her exhibiCon announcement which caused the division amongst arCsts and criCcs and resulted in the formaCon of October magazine.

Lynda Benglis, Bounce, 1969. Poured, colored latex, size variable.

Private collecCon.

Process Art Lynda Benglis (b. 1941) •  Benglis’ work uses process

to explore the collision of painCng and sculpture.

•  Her process consists of pouring/spilling different materials onto the floor. –  She had done this previously

with bronze. –  She is interested in seeing and

allowing the liquid to find its own shape.

–  She eventually moved from molten bronze to the electric colored latex seen here. Lynda Benglis, Bounce, 1969.

Poured, colored latex, size variable. Private collecCon.

Process Art Lynda Benglis (b. 1941) •  The influence of Pollock is clearly evident

here in images of the arCst “painCng” on the floor. –  She is not the only arCst to use the spill technique.

•  Serra also poured and threw molten lead before creaCng Tilted Arc.

•  Her works are very process driven-‐they are choreographed to a point and then allow the natural behavior of the latex to determine the final shape of the piece.

Lynda Benglis, latex floor painCng, Rhode Island, 1969

•  What earned the arCst notoriety was this ad placed in Arcorum magazine.

•  Tired of being underrepresented in the artworld, Benglis forged a very aggressive campaign to promote her shows.

•  She placed this as in Arforum featuring herself naked, with the excepCon of sunglasses and a large double-‐ended dildo.

•  The ad obviously caught the aAenCon of most in the art community. –  She was criCcized for being vulgar, for

giving men what they wanted to see, for using her body to sell herself and her work.

Susan IngleA Gallery, NYC The top porCon of the “Benglis ad,” a color photograph of Lynda Benglis that appeared in Ar{orum magazine in

1974.

•  What Benglis was really doing was adopCng the visual vocabulary oWen used by men to sell their shows.

•  Benglis, who collaborated with Morris, originally wanted the ads to run together side by side like pin-‐ups. AWer introducing the dildo however she felt the phallus was enough of a representaCon of power to not need Morris.

•  He ran his own anyway in the same ediCon.

•  Published in the same magazine, Arcorum, Morris was not criCcized for his publicity image and there was no scandal surrounding his evocaCon of the S&M lifestyle.

•  Benglis argued that the negaCve aAenCon she received was proof that male arCsts are encouraged to promote themselves whereas women are not.

•  What happened aWer the ad was published led to the formaCon of Ocotber magazined when writer Rosalind Krauss leW Arcorum over the controversy.

Susan IngleA Gallery, NYC The leW porCon of the “Benglis ad,” a color photograph of Lynda Benglis that appeared in Arcorum magazine in 1974.

The right porCon is the “butch” S&M ad used by Robert Morris in the same issue of Arcorum

magazine.

Post-‐Minimalism

Arte Povera

Arte Povera •  Originated in Turin, Italy. •  The movement began in 1967 from the relaConship between the criCc,

Germano Celant and his associaCon with arCsts: Michelangelo PistoleAo, Mario Mena, Jannis Kounellis, Luciano Fabro, Giovanni Anselmo, Pier Paolo, Calzolari, Guilio Paolini, Alighiero Boey, Guiseppe Penone, Gilberto Zorio, and Emilio Prini.

•  Celant was instrumental in realizing the revoluConary nature of their work and organized 2 shows and a book featuring their work.

•  Arte Povera is related to the late 1960s move to quesCon the art system and to create work that operated outside of it and tradiConally aestheCcs.

•  Arte Povera arCsts favor direct experience over representaCon. •  They use humble materials. •  Arte Povera arCsts sought “to create a new relaConship with the world of

things”, especially nature. •  PracConers of Arte Povera wanted their work to become one with nature. •  They desired a new language for art. •  Their work has been linked to American Earth Art and Pop art. •  Arte Povera arCsts wanted to understand themselves as well as nature.

Arte Povera Michelangelo PistoleAo (b.1933) •  Best known of the Arte Povera

arCsts is PistoleAo. •  He is an arCst and art theorist. •  His work is reflecCve and unites

art with the common and everyday world.

•  He hoped to unite these, the modern and historical by using iconic sculptures and juxtaposing them with the contemporary.

Michelangelo PistoleAo, Venus of the Rags, 1967/1974. Marble and texCles, 83 ½” x 134” x 43”. Tate, London.

Arte Povera

Mario Merz (1925-‐2003) •  Merz’s work displays his

fascinaCon with the relaConship between nature and contemporary life.

•  He uses materials that represent the contrast of the two.

•  His igloos join the natural and the man-‐made.

•  TradiConally, igloos use natural materials like earth, twigs, and mud during construcCon.

•  Merz re-‐creates this with man-‐made materials like wax, tubing, and plaster.

Mario Merz, Giap Igloo-‐If the Enemy Masses His Forces, He Loses Ground; If He ScaWers, He

Loses Strength, 1968. Metal tubes, wire mesh, wax, plaster, and neon tubes, height 3’11 ¼” and 6’ 6 ¾” in diameter. Musée NaConal d’Art Moderne, Centre d’Art et de

Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris.

Post-Minimalism

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