Post Minimalism 1

Post Minimalism and Process Art

Art 109A: Art since 1945

Westchester Community College Fall 2012 Dr. Melissa Hall

The 1960s Race riots

PoliCcal assassinaCons AnC-‐war movement

Race riots in the WaGs secCon of Los Angeles, August 11-‐15, 1965 hGp://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/1960.htm

An anC-‐war demonstrator burns his draO card at a Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon in October 1967.(Photo by Wally McNamee via Corbis)

The 1960s Minimalists remain aloof from poliCcs

Donald Judd, Un#tled, 1969 Hirshhorn Museum

“ArCsts should poliCcize themselves as ciCzens, demonstraCng and protesCng when necessary, but art should be free of poliCcal responsibility. . . “ Donald Judd, Ar*orum, 1970

The 1960s Minimalism and Pop:

 Impersonality (reacCon against Ab Ex “boring display of emoCon”)

 Serial repeCCon (echoing modern forms of mass producCon)

 Industrial materials and methods (screenprinCng; skillsaws; rolled steel)

Anna Chave argues that Minimalism internalized the impersonal values of American corporate power

The 1960s

Art Historian Anna Chave, at a Rutgers University symposium, 2007 Image source: hGp://arthistory.rutgers.edu/events/newsleGer/2008/fword.php

Mies van der Rohe, IBM Building, Chicago 1969-‐71

"By manufacturing objects with common industrial and commercial materials in a restricted vocabulary of geometric shapes, Judd and the other Minimalist arCsts availed themselves of the cultural authority of the makers of industry and technology” Anna Chave, “The Rhetoric of Power”

"The Minimalist's domineering, someCmes brutal rhetoric was breached in this country in the 1960's, a decade of brutal displays of power by both the American military in Vietnam, and the police at home in the streets and on University campuses across the country. Corporate power burgeoned in the U.S. in the 1960's too, with the rise of 'mulCnaConals', due in part to the flourishing of the military-‐industrial complex.” Anna Chave, “The Rhetoric of Power”

The 1960s The 1960s counter culture revolted against the values of the “establishment”

An anC-‐war demonstrator burns his draO card at a Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon in October 1967.(Photo by Wally McNamee via Corbis)

hGp://www.utwatch.org/archives/disorientut2005/military.html

The 1960s It rebelled against “progress” and the corporate ideology of the “military-‐industrial” complex

General Dynamics, Fort Worth Texas, 1969 hGp://www.f-‐111.net/RAAF-‐F-‐111s-‐off-‐the-‐producCon-‐line-‐1.htm

The 1960s To many younger arCsts, Minimalism was now synonymous with the blank visage of corporate power and insCtuConal authority

Ronald Bladen, The Cathedral Evening, 1972 Empire State Plaze, Albany

Mies van der Rohe, IBM Building, Chicago 1969-‐71

Minimalism and the1960s Counter Culture

"Presently we need more than silent cubes, blank canvases, and gleaming white walls . . . ." John Perrault

Pulitzer prize winning photograph of Kent State Massacre by Paul Filo Donald Judd, 100 un#tled works in mill aluminum, 1982-‐1986 ChinaC FoundaCon

The 1960s

Mies van der Rohe, Seagrams Building, NYC 1958

We are sick to death of cold plazas and monotonous 'curtain wall' skyscrapers . . . .” John Perrault

Post Minimalism Post Minimalism was a reacCon against the authoritarian codes of minimalism Post Minimalism

Coined by the art historian and criCc Robert Pincus-‐WiGen, Post-‐Minimalism refers to a general reacCon by arCsts in America beginning in the late 1960s against Minimalism and its insistence on closed, geometric forms. These dissenCng arCsts eschewed the impersonal object for more open forms. Rather than adhere to pure formalism, Post-‐Minimalist arCsts oOen made explicit the psychical and physical processes involved in the actualizaCon of art and oOen reflected personal and social concerns in their works. hGp://www.guggenheim.org/new-‐york/collecCons/collecCon-‐online/show-‐full/movement/?search=Post-‐Minimalism

Post Minimalism OOen called “Process Art,” Post Minimalism was characterized by a concern with process and materials

Process Art Process art emphasizes the “process” of making art (rather than any predetermined composiCon or plan) and the concepts of change and transience . . . [This] interest in process . . . has precedents in the Abstract Expressionists’ use of unconvenConal methods such as dripping and staining . . . Process arCsts were involved in issues aGendant 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 curng, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensaCon, freezing, or decomposiCon. hGp://www.guggenheim.org/new-‐york/collecCons/collecCon-‐online/show-‐full/movement/?search=Process%20art

An6-‐Form In 1968 Morris published an arCcle in Ar*orum Ctled “AnC-‐Form” in which he challenged the dominance of geometric regularity as an aestheCc orthodoxy

Robert Morris, Two Columns, 1961

“A morphology of geometric, predominantly rectangular forms has been accepted as a given premise” Robert Morris, “AnC-‐Form,” Ar*orum, 1968

An6-‐Form He argued that Minimalism is “authoritarian” because it imposes order on materials

Donald Judd, Un#tled, 1967

“The process of "making itself" has hardly been examined.” Robert Morris, “AnC-‐Form,” Ar*orum, 1968

An6-‐Form Even a simple box is sCll a “depicCon” of a preconceived idea of geometric regularity

Donald Judd, Un#tled, 1968 Walker Art Center

“Art of the 60s was an art of depicCng images. But depicCon as a mode seems primiCve because it involves implicitly asserCng forms as being prior to substances.” Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture 4: Beyond Objects,” Ar*orum April 1969

An6-‐Form Morris proposed that the “next step” was to replace pre-‐concepCon with process, ciCng Jackson Pollock and Morris Louis as precedents

Hans Namuth, Pollock working in his studio, 1951

“It remained for Pollock and Louis to go beyond the personalism of the hand to the more direct revelaCon of maGer itself.” Robert Morris, “AnC-‐Form,” Ar*orum 1968

An6-‐Form Process would enable the material itself to become the “author” of the work

“The focus on maGer and gravity as means results in forms which were not projected in advance . . . Random piling, loose stacking, hanging, give passing form to the material. Chance is accepted and indeterminacy is implied . . . .” Robert Morris, “AnC-‐Form,” Ar*orum 1968

Ernst Haas, Helen Frankenthaler at work in her studio, 1969 Image source: hGp://www.ernst-‐haas.com/celebrity_frankenthalerHelen1.html

An6-‐Form In the late 1960's, Morris began working with malleable materials such as felt

Robert Morris, Un#tled, 1969 MOMA

An6-‐Form Geometry and regularity are used, but the piece “happens” when the arCst allows the material to assert its own idenCty


An6-‐Form

Robert Morris, Un#tled (Pink Felt), 1970 Guggenheim

The art that [Robert Morris] and others began to explore at the end of the 1960s stressed the unusual materials they employed—industrial components such as wire, rubber, and felt—and their response to simple acCons such as curng and dropping. Un#tled (Pink Felt) (1970), for example, is composed of dozens of sliced pink industrial felt pieces that have been dropped unceremoniously on the floor. Morris’s scaGered felt strips obliquely allude to the human body through their response to gravity and epidermal quality. The ragged irregular contours of the jumbled heap refuse to conform to the strict unitary profile that is characterisCc of Minimalist sculpture. Guggenheim Museum

An6-‐Form Morris was envisioning an art that does not rely on pre-‐concep#on (where preconcepCon is associated with “authority” and “control”)

He was proposing a kind of “authorless” art in which the materials themselves, and the real condi#ons in which they exist, form the work


An6-‐Form Richard Serra was also re-‐conceptualizing sculpture in terms of process and materials

Richard Serra, photo Steve Pyke Image source: hGp://www.flowerseast.com/Originals_ExhibiCons.asp?ExhibiCon=07FNYSP&OE=1

An6-‐Form In 1967-‐68 Serra compiled a list of transiCve verbs that became the basis for his sculptural work

Richard Serra, Verb List, 1967-‐68

An6-‐Form The list describes processes that derive from the “acCon” concept of Abstract Expressionism – but “acCon” minus the emoCon

An6-‐Form Serra’s work became an invesCgaCon of what happens when a parCcular process (such as rolling, creasing, folding) encounters the specific properCes of a material

Richard Serra, Verb List, 1967-‐68

An6-‐Form In this work, the arCst applied the verb “to liO” to a sheet of vulcanized rubber

Richard Serra, To LiO, 1967. Vulcanized rubber. 36” x 6’8” x 60 (91.4×200 × 152.4 cm). CollecCon of the arCst hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-‐serra

An6-‐Form For an exhibiCon at Leo Castelli’s warehouse in 1968, Serra created Splashing in which he flung molten lead into the angle where the floor meets the wall

Richard Serra, Splashing, Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, 1968

An6-‐Form When cooled, the lead hardened into solid form

Richard Serra, Splashing, Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, 1968

An6-‐Form Prop consists of a sheet of lead held to the wall by a lead pipe leaning against it

Richard Serra, Prop, 1968. Lead. Plate Whitney Museum of American Art hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-‐serra

An6-‐Form Compare to Donald Judd’s stacks, where the properCes of materials and methods of construcCon are concealed (much like the “brushstrokes” in a painCng by Ingres)

Richard Serra, Prop, (foreground), and Floor Pole Prop (background), at Richard Serra: Forty Years, MOMA, 2007

An6-‐Form Resembling Tony Smith’s Die, this piece consists of four 500lb sheets of lead propped against one another like a "house of cards"

Richard Serra, One Ton Prop (House of Cards), 1969. Lead anCnomy Museum of Modern Art

An6-‐Form Tony Smith’s Die:

 StaCc; controlled  Adheres to a pre-‐conceived schema

Tony Smith, Die, 1962 Museum of Modern Art

An6-‐Form Serra creates a "theatrical" situaCon where the viewer experiences the literal (rather than “pictorial”) relaConships of material, weight, and gravity

Richard Serra, One Ton Prop (House of Cards), 1969. Lead anCnomy Museum of Modern Art

Richard Serra Richard Serra’s later works became increasingly involved with creaCng “situaCons” rather than “objects”

Richard Serra, Delineator, 1974-‐75. Hot-‐rolled steel. Two plates, each: 1” x 10’ X 26’ CollecCon of the arCst. hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-‐serra

Richard Serra In Delineator, the arCst placed two large plates of steel on the floor and ceiling

As we enter the space we immediately begin to orient ourselves in relaCon to the forms.

The piece “tends to turn you,” as the arCst explains, and “reframes the room,” so that the space of the room itself becomes the sculptural work



“My sculptures are not objects for the viewer to stop and stare at. The historical purpose of placing sculpture on a pedestal was to establish a separaCon between the sculpture and the viewer. I am interested in creaCng a behavioral space in which the viewer interacts with the sculpture in its context.” Richard Serra

Richard Serra Serra’s Titled Arc was a monumentally scaled site-‐specific work

It was commissioned by the NEA Art in Public Places Grant, which sets aside a percentage of public building funds for sculpture in public spaces

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981

Richard Serra The 120 foot long curving wall was designed to engage viewers in an “encounter” that would heighten awareness of the public space

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981 Federal Plaza, NYC Photo © 1985 David Aschkenas

Richard Serra However, the work was so disliked by the people who used the plaza that a public protest was organized and the work was eventually removed

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, 1981 Federal Plaza, NYC Photo © 1985 David Aschkenas

Richard Serra

“The Tilted Arc, decision prompts general quesCons about public art, an increasingly controversial subject through the late 1980s and early 1990s in the U.S. and abroad. The role of government funding, an arCst's rights to his or her work, the role of the public in determining the value of a work of art, and whether public art should be judged by its popularity are all heatedly debated. Serra's career conCnues to flourish, despite the controversy. "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." Other works by Serra are in the permanent collecCon of museums around the world.” hGp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/Cltedarc_a.html

Richard Serra Serra’s more recent work was recently the focus of a retrospecCve at the Museum of Modern Art

His large scale architectural installaCons exemplify an approach to sculpture that is more focused on creaCng “situaCons” and “experience” rather than “objects”

Richard Serra inside his piece Sequence in one of the second-‐floor galleries of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on May, 16, 2007

Beyond Objects Robert Morris was also moving away from the producCon of "objects" towards the creaCon of "situaCons."


Beyond Objects In an essay published in Ar*orum in 1969, he proclaimed the making of objects to be obsolete

“Work that results in a finished product . . . finalized with respect to either Cme or space . . . no longer has much relevance” Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture 4: Beyond Objects,” Ar*orum April 1969

Beyond Objects He called for a shiO from the producCon of “objects” to the creaCon of “situaCons”


Beyond Objects Minimalism already began this process, but the object remained the “star” of the show

Beyond Objects The objects remained “figures” inhabiCng the visual field, much like the figure/ground relaConship in a tradiConal Renaissance painCng

Raymond Holbert, Perspec#ve Study, 2004 hGp://memorybanque.com/perspecCve.html

Beyond Objects But what if we made the viewer the “figure” and the sculpture the “visual field”?

Yayoi Kusama, Mirror Room -‐ Phalli’s Field, museum Boymans van Beuningen in RoGerdam Image source: Flickr

Beyond Objects In Un#tled (Threadwaste) Morris recycled another industrial material -‐-‐ threadwaste used for industrial packing, which he scaGered on the floor in an amorphous mass

Robert Morris, Un#tled (Threadwaste), 1968 InstallaCon at Museé Art Contemporain, Lyon, 2006 Photo by Blaise Adilon

“To this Morris added miscellaneous felt pieces, copper tubing, and chunks of asphalt. From within the mass of this material . . . rise a number of rectangular double-‐sided mirrors, that, in their reflecCons, produce an uncanny replicaCon of the scaGer piece’s horizontal sprawl.” Robert Morris: The Mind Body Problem, exh. Cat. Guggenheim Museum, 1994, p. 226

Beyond Objects The work is like a Pollock, minus the “transcendental signified” of the arCst, and minus the precious objectness of a painCng that can be framed


Robert Morris, Un#tled (Threadwaste), detail Photo by Blaise Adilon

Robert Morris, Un#tled (Threadwaste), 1968 Centro per L”Arte Contemporonea, Prato, 2005

Robert Morris, Un#tled (Threadwaste), 1968 MOMA

Beyond Objects The emphasis on experience through Cme has affiniCes with Happenings


Beyond Objects Barry Le Va was also working with so-‐called “scaGer pieces”

Barry Le Va, Con#nuous and Related Ac#vi#es; Discon#nued by the Act of Dropping, 1967 (installaCon view, Full House: Views of the Whitney’s CollecCon at 75, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2006). Felt and glass, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art,

Beyond Objects

Barry Le Va, Con#nuous and Related Ac#vi#es; Discon#nued by the Act of Dropping, 1967 (installaCon view, Full House: Views of the Whitney’s CollecCon at 75, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2006). Felt and glass, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art,

“A recipe for a typical early Le Va piece might run something like: "Cover the floor with long parallel lines of flour. Set electric fans in the middle of the room. Turn them on." From simple acts like this came moments of startling, ephemeral beauty whose genesis the viewer reconstructs. The work became, it was oOen said, a series of "clues," the viewer a detecCve who recreated events -‐ in the hope of experiencing Cme, space and materials in a more mindful, uncentered way” Roberta Smith, “Minimal and Mad in Equilibrium,” NY Times, Feb 25 2005

Barry Le Va’s Con#nuous and Related Ac#vi#es; Discon#nued by the Act of Dropping (1967)

“ First created in 1967, this work consists of large and small pieces of felt casually piled and strewn about the floor and topped off with a single, large sheet of broken glass. It was clearly dropped onto the felt, where it shaGered and terminated any further arranging. The glass is "like a period," the arCst says in the audio guide to the show.” Roberta Smith, “Minimal and Mad in Equilibrium,” NY Times, Feb 25 2005

Beyond Commodi6es Postminimalism also moved beyond the producCon of “aestheCc objects” that could be packaged and sold as “commodiCes.”

This can be seen parCcularly well in a landmark exhibiCon that Robert Morris curated at Leo Castelli’s warehouse on east 108th street in 1968.

InstallaCon view of “9 at Leo Castelli,” 1968

InstallaCon view of “9 at Leo Castelli,” 1968 On floor clockwise from leO: William Bollinger, Un#tled; Steve Kaltenbach, Un#tled; Bruce Nauman, John Coltrane Piece; Gilberto Zorio, Un#tled; Eva Hesse, Augment; On wall: Keith Sonnier Un#tled and Mustee Image source: Lisa Phillips, The American Century

It hardly looks like an “art” exhibiCon at all!

Beyond Commodi6es Minimalism had already deflated the preciousness of the art object by presenCng “specific objects” without pedestal or frame

Donald Judd, Un#tled, 1968. Enamel on aluminum Guggenheim Museum

Beyond Commodi6es But compared to the work displayed in Castelli’s warehouse Minimalism looks as prisCne and “ideal” as a Greek statue!


Beyond Objects This lack of aestheCc quality was important: arCsts such as Robert Morris believed that “quality” and “beauty” only served to transform art into an easily consumable product.


“From such a point of view the concern with ‘quality’ in art can only be another form of consumer research . . . “ Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture 4: Beyond Objects,” Ar*orum April 1969

Beyond Objects While vanguard art was moving away from “art stars” and “aestheCcs,” the market was perpetually re-‐converCng these advances into consumable “objects.”

“At the present Cme the culture is engaged in the hosCle and deadly act of immediate acceptance of all new perceptual art moves, absorbing through insCtuConal recogniCon every art act. The work discussed has not been accepted.” Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture 4: Beyond Objects,” Ar*orum April 1969

Beyond Objects Post Minimalism was driven in part by a resistance to the market that paralleled the counter cultural concerns of the 1960s


“A dissaCsfacCon with the current social and poliCcal system results in an unwillingness to produce commodiCes which graCfy and perpetuate that system. Here the spheres of ethics and estheCcs merge.” Barbara Rose, 1969

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