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Modernisms 1900-1980
Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 9
Lesson 5: Minimalism and Earthworks- An Introduction to Minimalism
- The Case for Minimalism
- Carl Andre, Lever
- Donald Judd, Untitled
- Robert Morris, (Untitled) L-Beams
- Robert Morris: Bodyspacemotionthings at Tate Modern
- The Case for Land Art
- Nicolás García Uriburu, Coloration of the Grand Canal, Venice
- Dorothea Rockburne: Drawing Which Makes Itself
- Richard Serra, Tilted Arc
- Richard Serra, "Intersection II"
- Richard Serra, "Torqued Ellipse IV"
- Richard Serra, "Band," 2006
- Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty
- Smithson, Spiral Jetty
- Smithson, Spiral Jetty (quiz)
- Walter De Maria, The Lightning Field
- Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates
- James Turrell, Skyspace, The Way of Color
- Minimalism and Earthworks
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Donald Judd, Untitled
Donald Judd, Untitled , 1969, ten copper units, each 9 x 40 x 31 inches with 9 inch intervals (Guggenheim Museum, New York).Speakers: Dr. Shana Gallagher-Lindsay, Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Minimalism confuses me sometimes.
What is the purpose of minimalism art?
Is minimalism art supposed to invoke any emotions? If so, which ones?
What separates minimalism from what furniture you usually find in a house?(17 votes)- Minimalism is formalist - it addresses materials and construction, as well as composition. It is very much a reaction to abstract expressionism, as well as an extension of it.(7 votes)
- After watching some of these modern art videos, it struck me.
In the spirit of all these modern and contemporary art creations brought and explained to us by SmartHistory and KA, striving to make this community a more lively one, and despite being aware that some people may consider this troll-ish behavior, I, 福龍丸, on November 8, 2012, at approximately 22 :07 GMT, declare this post and every entry in the Questions and Tips & Feedback areas below this video a work of art. By making your contribution in any of the above areas, you are guaranteed not only your permanence in eternity, but also the title of an information age artist. I claim no copyright for the outcome or the original idea. This will be an ever-evolving piece of art that gets perpetually more complex, like the Internet or human civilization, and its purpose is to reflect the above in an infinitely smaller scale. So please, go on!
Title of the artwork: "Answer this question..."
I hope you enjoy!
Update as of 1st March, 2013: As time goes by, I'm starting to believe all of Khan Academy deserves to be thought of as a collective artwork, reaching far beyond what the separate artists/contributors could manage by themselves.(14 votes) - So now a shelving unit is art? I don't understand the overall purpose. What does it stand for? How is it supposed to make me feel? The only part the artist had in creating this was thinking up the idea, ordering some boxes from a factory, and writing instructions for it to be hung in an art gallery. How does this embody the idea of art?(6 votes)
- Art isn't supposed to "make you feel" some specific way.
Just as in life, we encounter the object and react to it in a way that is particular to us, the viewer/perceiver. The uniqueness of this reaction is where much of the beauty of the experience of art lies.
Hopefully, we don't visit galleries, museums, and libraries to have tyrannies of thought and emotion systematically imposed upon us. Maybe you do--seems sort of unimaginative though.
If this piece doesn't do it for you, look elsewhere--but not for painters who tell you how to feel.(3 votes)
- This might not be the best place to put it, but I just have to ask. Why havent you used a higher quality pictures in these videos? The story, and this whole idea are great, but lack of good visual material is such a shame. I would really love to see some better pictures and animations.
And, thank you for this wonderful contribution to worlds art.(5 votes) - Do you think this person intentionally had not give a title to his art work?
Personally from my view I think the fact he didn't makes others experience his masterpiece in a whole new way in fact maybe enlightening others to create a conversation to contemplate his philosophy behind this masterpiece.
Here's what I feel with this masterpiece
1. I noticed how his artwork is very structured and he uses symmetry was he trying to convey the expectations of Society and having these spacings showing the imperfections.
2. There is definitely beauty in this workmanship but with no actual title I am trying to understand his philosophy behind this.
3.How does this invoke my emotions? I see joy like a view of sunshine a ray of light amount the shadows most of the simplicity brings a statement from this work that Nature has natural beauty in itself now all these emotions could simply be my own personal experiences tide in to the art he conveys.
What are you thoughts about this ?(2 votes) - What do minimalism relate to? Is it suppose to relate to our modern world?(0 votes)
- It shows how a person changes from being closed in the cocoon to open and free like a butterfly(3 votes)
- Es podrie comfondres amb el censui o cen(1 vote)
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: We're looking at a
sculpture that, in many ways doesn't really seem to be-- SPEAKER 2: A sculpture. SPEAKER 1: Right. SPEAKER 2: It's
not free standing. SPEAKER 1: It's not. It's more like a relief. SPEAKER 2: But it's
not really a relief. SPEAKER 1: Not really,
because there's no background it's attached to. SPEAKER 2: And they're
isolated units, all the same. SPEAKER 1: That's right. This is a work by
Donald Judd, and it's a piece of minimalist sculpture,
and it was done in 1969, and it's an untitled work. He would have had the exact same
form replicated over and over again. So each one of those
boxes that you see there were not made by him, and
it was also made in a factory. So it has a kind of a
machine-made aesthetic to it. SPEAKER 2: It somehow seems
like it's made to, sort of, interact in the
space of a gallery. SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. In fact, he's very specific
in giving instructions on how to hang this, how
to attach it to the wall. That each one be
spaced 6 inches apart. And usually, the first
time it was made, it was supposed to
be evenly spaced all the way to the ceiling. So it would be somewhat
dictated by the height by the normal height
of the ceiling. Of course, that would
change depending on what space you're hanging it. SPEAKER 2: But this
one doesn't do that. SPEAKER 1: I think that's
because the photograph that you're looking
at, in particular. SPEAKER 2: It's
made of something that has a reflective surface. SPEAKER 1: High sheen to it,
the outside of it is brass and then, it's
difficult to see here, but there are plexi
kind of Windows that are the tops of
each one of these boxes. So you can see through it. And sometimes, depending
on which piece it is, they're intensely
colored like pink or kind of a yellowish color
or translucent. So it interacts with
the space and creates a kind of a shadow
and coloristic effect on the wall, the blank
wall of the gallery. SPEAKER 2: So should we
be thinking back here to sculptures made of bronze? SPEAKER 1: I think so, but
also the negation of that. One of the things that
Judd and other minimalists are trying to do are
to be of their time. So there's that whole
tradition that he's continuing of modern
art, you know, where you choose the
materials and the themes of your own time. And here, to choose
something that is brass, which can be used
in older art, but to make it look like it's sheet
metal, something that comes out of a factory. And in fact, is not made by
him, but made by other workers, is very important, and the plexi
is an altogether new material. SPEAKER 2: So it really
speaks to our factory, industrial culture. SPEAKER 1: Exactly,
and it is what it is. It doesn't disguise itself. He's very explicit
about not trying to make illusionistic art. So he doesn't want to
make a sculpture look like a person or a
space that isn't there. And so they're clearly
boxes and the plexi allows you to see that
they're not solid. So there's a clarity
and a literal quality that he wants to bring out. SPEAKER 2: And it
also reminds me of skyscraper, other
kinds of modernist forms. SPEAKER 1: Right
and does evoke that and just the sheer
replication of the same form over and over again. SPEAKER 2: Very modern. SPEAKER 1: It suggests
machine production and one thing being-- SPEAKER 2: Going shopping
and seeing everything the same in the grocery store. SPEAKER 1: Exactly. SPEAKER 2: 900 versions
of the same thing. SPEAKER 1: Right. Kind of a product-like
quality to it. It's easy to see how the
clean qualities of it, the shininess of it,
and also the plexi. Maybe at first glance,
it seems oversimplified, but on further scrutiny, there's
a lot of color and reflection and light at play. [MUSIC PLAYING]