5. Characteristics of Minimalism
Primarily sculpture
Geometric forms
Industrially produced
Non-referential
Materials appear as materials
No distracting colors
Gallery and viewer are part of the piece
6. Social and Political Background
Minimalism was a product of its time
Mass-production
Media
Conflicts between capitalism and democracy
1960s—a time of radical upheaval and blurring of
boundaries
“End” of Minimalism
Artbusiness
Conservative backlash
7. Artistic Context
Minimalism is a reaction to abstract expressionism
Rejected romantic exuberance and self-celebration
Pop Art expanded the art world
Shared characteristics
Popularized art
8. Reactions to Minimalism
“Recentness of Sculpture”—Clement Greenberg
Minimalism was confusing innovation with novelty
“Novelty Art” has nothing to do with art
“Art and Objecthood”—Michael Fried
Minimalism was challenging modernism
9. Frank Stella
Parallel
Order
Denied illusion
Stripes
13. Donald Judd
"A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something
itself. It shouldn't be concealed as part of a fairly
different whole."
-Donald Judd
17. Robert Morris
“Simplicity of shape does not necessarily equate
with simplicity of experience.”
-Robert Morris
18. Robert Morris Continued
Danced before becoming a sculptor
Interested in process of production and perceiving
“Notes on Sculpture Parts 1 & 2” (1966)
Sculpture as Gestalt
Focus on relationship between viewer, space, and sculpture,
rather than relationships within a piece
Avoids projection of human nature onto art
21. Carl Andre
“My work is atheistic, materialistic, and communistic.
It is atheistic because it is without transcendent form,
without spiritual or intellectual quality. Materialistic
because it is made out of its own materials without
pretension to other materials. And communistic
because the form is equally accessible to all men.”
-Carl Andre
22. Carl Andre Continued
Used pre-fabricated materials
Unconnected arrangement of individual elements
within each piece
Limitation to relatively simple shapes
Sculpture as place
Elements are indistinguishable from raw materials
25. Sol Lewitt
“The most interesting characteristic of the cube is
that it is relatively uninteresting.”
-Sol Lewitt
26. Sol Lewitt Continued
Geometrical progression through modular
structures
Based on repetition, permutation, and serial
formulas
Simplified past industrial material—focus on
concepts and systems
29. Dan Flavin
“One might not think of light as a matter of fact,
but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and
direct an art as you will ever find.”
-Dan Flavin
30. Dan Flavin Continued
Limited materials to standard fluorescent light
Emphasis on physical space and light
interaction
Has industrial qualities but is impermanent
Saw himself as a “maximalist”
33. Influence of Minimalism
Minimalism spurred paradigm shifts
Art no longer had to be a unique object created by an
artist
Reinvented sculpture
Broadened definition and rules of art
Closed gap between high culture and mass culture