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 Minimal
Art emerged as a movement in the 1950s and continued through the Sixties
and Seventies. It is sometimes called ABC art, minimal art, reductivism,
and rejective art. 'Minimalism' is a word we
frequently hear used outside the world art, and is therefore perhaps
more familiar to us than some other art terms. It is often used in
discussion about style in general: for example a chic sparse interior
with white walls and simple furniture may be described as 'minimalist'.
It is also sometimes used in a humorous or disparaging sense to describe
something that is less than expected or under par. Minimal
art is characterized by its simplicity in both form and content, where
personal expression is removed in order to achieve this. An American-born movement, Minimalism stemmed mostly from the work of Frank Stella, whose Black Paintings (shown above) were first exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1959, inspiring many artists to turn away from the expressive art of the past. Although it was never an organized, self-proclaimed movement, Minimalist art became dominant in sculpture and installation work, although there are multiple Minimalist painters. The 1966 exhibition in New York entitled "Primary Structures" was a key event in the history of the movement. Minimalist art was normally precise and hard-edged. It incorporated geometric forms often in repetitive patterns and solid planes of color, normally cool hues or unmixed colors straight from the tube. Often based on a grid and mathematically composed, the use of industrial materials was common in order to eliminate the evidence of the artist’s hand. Minimalist art strived to create an object with presence, something that can be seen at its basic physical appearance and appreciated at face value. Minimalism flourished in the 1960s and 1970s with Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt and Robert Morris becoming the movement's most important innovators. We usually think of art as representing an aspect of the real world, a landscape, a person, or even a tin of soup or reflecting an experience such as an emotion or feeling. With Minimalism, no attempt is made to represent an outside reality, the artist wants the viewer to respond only to what is in front of them. The medium, from which it is made, and the form of the work is the reality.  Minimalist
painter Frank Stella famously said about his paintings 'What you see is
what you see'. The intention of minimalist artists is to allow
the audience to view a composition more intensely because the
distractions of a theme has been removed. Minimalist artists, such as Judd and Andre, also rejected the notion of the
artwork as a unique creation reflecting the personal expression of a gifted
individual. They saw the importance bestowed on the hand of the artist in the
creation of a work of art as a distraction from the art object itself. Instead
they created objects that were as impersonal and neutral as possible, with the
aim that the viewer should have a more pure reaction to the art object itself.
Ad Reinhardt, actually an artist of the Abstract Expressionist
generation, but one whose reductive all-black paintings seemed to
anticipate minimalism, had this to say about the value of a reductive
approach to art: "The more stuff in it, the busier the work of art,
the worse it is. More is less. Less is more. The eye is a menace to
clear sight. The laying bare of oneself is obscene. Art begins with the
getting rid of nature."Minimalist artists of the time reacted against Abstract Expressionism, which is demonstrated by the stark canvases, simple installations, and minimalist sculptures. The Minimalist movement is similar to Conceptual Art in that the outcome is used to express a theory. Minimalism is also similar to Pop Art because of the impersonal attitude. |
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