Blurring boundaries: Investigating the
notion of space in contemporary art.
“In the postmodern era, “reality” has
become as mutable as our minds” (Heartney, 2013)
“Composition is everywhere” (Ottman,
1990)
The element of space in art is essentially related to boundaries and limitations
and an investigation on how contemporary artists have creatively evolved with
this issue is noteworthy and important. In his essay “Essays on the blurring of
Art and Life- The legacy of Jackson Pollock”, (Kaprow, 1958), Allan Kaprow
discussed on “the space-no- the place- beyond it” where paint was splashed across
the edges of the paintings of Jackson Pollock to his studio space; what he
metaphorically calls “the boundary of avant-garde experience and quite possibly
the end of art”. Today’s art concerns are “telling us more about the content of
one artist’s mind than about the universe outside our heads” (Heartney, 2013)
and the space in which the artwork/artist exists is being absorbed and reinvented
continuously.
Be it Cave Art (Lascaux, Altamira, Chauvet),
an ancient Pharaoh tomb, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or a common gallery
setting space, culture in a sense makes up for the atmosphere for which the
participant/viewer anticipates, is conditioned and creates expectations through
subconscious images in his/her mind prior to the visit/experience. As a
counterbalance, Public Art liberates itself from set boundaries where the
public areas become “a reflection of how we
see the world—the artist’s response to our time and place combined with our own
sense of who we are” (Bach, 1992). Emerging arts: street art, graffiti art,
site-specifics, environmental art, architecture, amongst others have diverged
and synthesized themselves to different forms and directions in the
contemporary setting.
“Duchamp and His Legacy” (Kramer, 1995)
“Fountain” metaphorically opens up another dimension in space with another way
of looking at art blurring the boundary between art and life. Similarly, Piero
Manzoni’s sculpture “Socle Du Monde” is a strong statement on the universal
dimension that common space could recreate for itself. Today’s large-scales
installations as Tara Donovan’s and Doris Salcedo’s monumental works open up
doors to new perceptions on how space could transform and give new meaning to
surface and structure, interior and exterior. As opposed to the monumental, the
scale issue is revisited with the works of Charles LeDray as miniature trend
engages in close scrutiny and focuses on detail. The pioneering ideas of
Duchamp can now be said to have reworked itself in the sense that readymades
have earned their space in the contemporary context. “Arrangements of furniture,
plumbing supplies, toothpaste, and food” (Heartney, 2013) are now openly
accepted as art and replicas of consumptive products are being produced by
artists on a creative ground.
Researching on opticality in relation to abstraction,
the formal artist Frank Stella developed the concept of the “working space” (Stella,
1986) (merging of sculpture and painting) which emphasizes on the importance of
space exploration for the contemporary artist. Using found
objects, Jessica Stockholder reinvents her space through the architecture in
site by challenging “boundaries,
blurring the distinction among painting, sculpture and environment, and even
breaching gallery walls by extending beyond windows and doors" (Heartney,
2013). Her site specific works have often called “painting in space”.
In the same
league, the artist Sarah Sze explores space in relation to interconnectivity,
intricate detail and animation and movement. Her works have been compared as
“patchwork compositions” which mirror “the improvisational quality of cities,
labor, and everyday life. On the edge between life and art, her work is alive
with a mutable quality.” She asserts that she aspires to an art which would
“look like something someone would create if they were locked for a long time
in a bathroom” (Heartney, 2013).
To fully grasp
the commitment and meaning in relation to the spatial concerns of the artist’s
state of mind, this statement gives a clear indication of the in-depth personal
investigation and engagement of Jessica Stockholder: “Standing in front of one of my
pieces, its size is important in relationship to your size, you feel how heavy
it is or what the light is like in the room, and all that kind of information
is seen in relation to the pictorial structure in the work. The thing cues you
to measure one side against the other, trying to balance it as you would a
picture, and for me, looking at things in a pictorial way includes a distancing
where the thing that’s pictured is far away and a little static, unchanging,
without time. This distancing is exaggerated by the
“art” status of the work, which brings with it a feeling of preciousness and
the feeling that the work is somehow removed from or above human life. These
qualities are seductive and they make me angry. So I place the pictorial in a
context where it’s always being poked at. The picture never stands — it’s
always getting the rug pulled out from under it.” (Ottman, 1990).
Another unique dimension in tackling the
notion of space can be seen through the works of the Japanese artist Yayoi
Kusama. She uses the space around as well as placing herself in the composition
in an illusionistic manner to explore the element of “invisibility” and
disorientation. With heavily patterned and brightly coloured dots and motifs,
she ponders on the play of illusion as well as the role of the self as art and
in art. To further accentuate on the notion of infinity and illusion, she make
use of mirrors, creating “a delirious pictorial space”, (Heartney, 2013). As
her works were exhibited at the Tate Modern in London on February 9,2012, her
style was described “akin to being suspended in a beautiful cosmos gazing at infinite worlds, or like a
tiny dot of fluoresecent plankton in an ocean of glowing microscopic life” (Trebuchet
Magazine, 2012).
While Kusama’s
works are dense and dynamic, the artist Julie Mehretu shows dynamism and
intensity in a totally different manner. Her works have even been said to be
like “vortexes swallowing up any physical or mental structures that come near”
(Heartney,2013) as her concerns are centered towards overwhelming layers of
forms reminiscent of urbanism, geometry, fragmentation and deconstruction that
as a whole looks like an explosion “leaving a void in the center of the
composition that might allude to both a bursting stock market bubble and to the
hole in the ground after the attacks of the 9/11” (Heartney,2013) Though her
concerns are focused on contemporary issues, appreciating her works would be
like engaging the viewer in an experience which could be compared to Pollock’s
paintings to some extent in terms of intense vitality and abstraction.
The contemporary artist Cornelia Parker’s concerns are
about “the space between objects in the world”. She uses objects that have been
destroyed and arranges the debris by suspending them from gallery ceilings. Her artwork “Mass (Colder Darker
Matter)”, “consists of the charred remains of a church struck by lightning that
hang in mid-air in an approximate replication of the form of the building they
once were” (Heartney, 2013). Speaking of her art, she says: "Working piece by piece, you get an idea and then
commit to it without much thought as to what has gone before or what is coming
next. But standing back a little, it's nice to see the patterns, not least
those made by your own personal set of worry lines."
Many artists make
use of the “suspension” space for their works as the artists Annette Massager
and Petah Coyne (amongst others). Though these two artists are mainly concerned
with the strong messages of feminism, their use of space is interestingly apt
as hanging as a presentation is closely linked with the idea if being
trapped/imprisoned. They also work on the idea of “accumulations” (Heartney, 2013)
which projects an atmosphere of buzzing activities with diverse focal points
highlighting on the complex overwhelming nature of these exuberant artworks. The
artwork of the artist Judy Pfaff-“cirque,CIRQUE”(1995), an installation of
700,000 square feet of space, “the largest suspended sculpture on earth” has
been observed as functioning as “three-dimensional paintings”, taking over
spaces from floor to ceiling and wall to wall (Heartney,2013).
“When I work, the body is like a
universe where I can lose myself. It is a metaphor for the landscape, nature
and the mountains”, says David Altmejd. Some artists have sought of pursuing
their adventure on hidden structures as the artist David Altmejd. The negative spaces: gaps, holes, fissures and
crystal filled orifices as well as “the reflective surfaces of his mirrored
sculptures are impenetrable and both define and destabilize, as well as
multiply, the spaces around them”, “creating a myriad number of small universes that lodge themselves
like secrets in pockets of flesh and plastic” (Hefkens, 2014)
At another end, the works of Gunther
Forg explored a deeper reality of space where often working on large scale, geometrical abstract paintings, sculptures and
photographs were grouped and associated as wholes where sometimes even the
display space became an integral part of the artwork. “He painted over gallery walls, included
doorways and windows as integral elements, set photographs in opposition to
paintings and used framed glass over selected works for its reflective power” (Forg,
2013). By moving outside set parameters,
Forg’s interests become linked with architectural concerns.
The
evolution of architecture, being the result of “the postmodern embrace of
consumer capitalism”, offered a genuine subject for investigation for an art to
flourish in a space of “contemporary living and working environments”. Artists
as Gordon Matta Clark, Rachel Whitehead and Daniel Buren all differently approach
this aspect of space with concerns about functionality, permanence and
rationality. While Matta Clark’s and
Rachel Whitehead’s subjects are about demolition, ruins and architectural
fragments, they both draw attention to the metaphorical spaces in between. Rachel Whitehead’s “works are essentially
casts of empty space, made by pouring liquid concrete, plaster, rubber or resin
around real objects, into rooms, and even into whole buildings” resulting into
strange forms and sculptures. As for
Daniel Buren, the notion of past, present and future is being examined by
contrasting elements of the contemporary with existing architectures.
Another issue about space in relation to the public is
the concept of the site-specific referring to “the notion that a work’s meaning
and even its existence as art depended on its relationship to its
surrounding”. The artist Richard Serra’s
work “Tilted Arc, 1989” created an important debate about the politics behind
the notion of art for the people and site specific. The removal of this artwork led to a
questioning in the thinking of public art and its meaning. Using an original approach of space Maya
Lin’s site specific artwork, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, 1982, is unique in the
sense that it was designed “to resemble a symbolic wound in the land, providing
a metaphor for the psychic wound inflicted by the war on the nation’s
consciousness” (Heartney, 2013)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
can be said to be THE reference in creating “gentle disturbances” in the space
between earth and sky in order to refocus the impressions of an old historic
structure or of the earth itself. They borrow land, public structures and
spaces; sites used and built by others and already freighted with associations
that may or may not have anything to do with art. As
Christo and Jeanne-Claude also sometimes "wrap" buildings and
islands, or construct a trail of large umbrellas, or very high and lengthy
fabric curtains in a landscape, the artists temporarily use one part of the environment. In doing so, the
whole environment is seen with new eyes and a new consciousness. The effect
lasts longer than the actual work of art. Years after every physical trace has
been removed and the materials recycled, original visitors can still see and
feel them in their minds when they return to the sites of the artworks.
The
notion of space for the contemporary artist is powerfully intricate with the
absolute, the void and existential issues. Artists are said to be “mystics
rather than rationalists, they leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach”
(Lewitt, 1969). The notion of space is
deeply rooted in contemporary aspects of art and it is most inappropriate to
seek out its limits. Rather, by engaging in maximizing its value in artworks,
artists are confident to move on to other dimensions and realms of reality.
Bibliography & References
1. Heartney, E, 2013, Art & Today, Phaidon
Press Limited.
2.
Ottman, K, 1990, Journal of Contemporary Arts, Jessica Stockholder.
3.
Kaprow, A, 1993, Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, pp. 1-9.
4.
Bach, P.B, 1993, Public Art in
Philadelphia, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
5.
Kramer, H, 1995, Duchamp and his Legacy,
The New Criterion, Volume 14, pp.4
6.
Stella, F, 1986, Working Space, Harvard
University Press
7.
Trebuchet Magazine, 2012, Tate Modern,
Yayoi Kusama
8.
Hefkins, 2014, David Altmejd, Musée d'Art Moderne de
la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
9.
Forg, G, 2013, Art & Design, The New
York Times
10. Lewitt,
S, 1969, Conceptual Art, England
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