Mediums and Arts Movements: Minimalism

Class Date: February 21, 2011

In class we discussed various mediums and art movements, particularly minimalism.  This movement was made up as a revolt against other movements.  These types of works feel and look like they are manufactured, meaning that they were not made by a human.  These works are also abstract meaning it is hard to know how to respond to certain works.  Abstraction leaves things open for interpretation, which makes everyone's reaction to the piece different and unique.

Piece done by Robert Ryman

We also watched a video on Robert Ryman, who believes that paintings gives pleasures to others.  There needs to be no background information on the piece for an observer to necessarily enjoy it.  Before he moved to New York, music was the biggest thing in his life and that all changed once he moved.  His love for music translated into painting and allowed him to express himself differently than music.  He works differently, however, and only uses the color white.  He believes that white can do things that normal colors cannot.  I have personally never seen types of work like this before having white paint on surfaces and streamlining essentially what it is.  To me, most of the paintings looked the same.

We then were introduced to Vija Celmins, who took something that is miniature and repainted or duplicated the exact object or image.  She was working on a picture of space that had taken her nearly over a year.  She paints the image until she can articulate it herself.  Celmins enjoys doing this because she likes to feel like a creator.  One time she even found stones and duplicated them herself to look identical.