The Case for Minimalism | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios
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- Опубліковано 23 бер 2016
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You've probably seen a few cubes sitting in an art gallery and questioned why they were there. How could cubes be important? How did we get here? This is the case for Minimalism.
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It wasn't until the moment I tried to create a minimalist work that I realize how difficult it really is. Try pouring water into a glass and I notice there are stains on the glass, and the water isn't pure, and the surface I put the glass on is indicating the specific type of living space, and that everything else around the glass is demanding to be removed.
Trying to make something without meaning is real difficult.
+YoungTheFish The only things that don't have meaning are things poeple can't observe. It's impossible! You just have have to make something close to nothing.
What if you fill a room will argon?
in your particular instance repetition might empty the meaning of the individual glass, look at Carl Andre's work for example. an overwhelming volume can allow for the disassociation of a regular object. then again, it might just lead you back to an uncanny object situation. either which way a giant room filled with full to the brim glasses seems very appealing. just keep at it, keep thinking, and keep making :)
+YoungTheFish i'm curious, what pushes you to do it? why do you do it?
random girl Fine art student, major in film production :) just a curious experiment, I was hoping to learn something from it, which I did.
Ophelia Franco You're right, meaning is not the right word :) Should've said "human touch"
"This art just isn't into you". The feeling is quite mutual.
+James Simon Haha. I think many feel that way. Perhaps loving Minimalism is an unhealthy relationship.
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I find it fascinating how I've evolved in my thinking on this style of art.
Like probably _most_ people....I didn't get it at first. In fact, I genuinely kinda loathed it.
Now though? I absolutely love this style of art. I definitely get it....even if I can't entirely articulate why.
What's odd is....my aha moment came when viewing the artwork in the CD booklet to The White Stripes album De Stijl. It immediately resonated with me in a way it never had before. And I haven't seen it the same since. :)
Pretty neat @@avedic
While I don't 100% agree with minimalism, this video has definitely helped me reach a new understanding and appreciation for it. Thank you The Art Assignment for always doing a wonderful job!!!
+Chloe Baumstark Exactly my hope. Thanks, Chloe.
The Art Assignment Right back at ya!
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with all respect chloe minimalism isnt interested your approval. it just is.
I was born and raised in Marfa, TX--the epicenter for minimalist art in the United States--and remember the very first Donald Judd and John Chamberlain installations going in. As a kid, and even as a young adult, I didn't get it. I lived in a place about as minimal as they come, so this work didn't impress me. Now that I'm older and have worked in big cities for big companies and been through the grinder of life, going back home to Marfa every couple of months and experiencing this simple installations with their quiet stoicism in a large, empty space is actually very moving. I'm often there alone. I think I get it now. If you haven't actually seen or entered one of these spaces first hand, I don't think it's really possible to appreciate--but maybe that's just me.
+raderred Super interesting to hear your perspective. I think you *must* experience these things firsthand--a flat image on a screen or in a book doesn't do it. I'd be curious whether minimalist works in museums or other places than Marfa have any effect on you--when it's not in that kind of expansive, considered environment.
For me it's all about being in their physical presence of these things. Although the images of the works in Marfa are often pretty good at making one want to go there. Including me. I've wanted to go for years. I just need to make it happen.
This is an interesting perspective on minimalism. As someone who has studied theatre, my perspective on the movement is a little different. Minimalist sets, like those described in the work of Samuel Beckett, tend to be more essentialist, using the fewest parts to evoke the maximum amount of meaning. It is interesting that in the world of visual art, minimalism is kind of a rejection of meaning.
+Tyler Graham Interesting. Especially to think about that in light of Fried's impression about the "theatricality" of this kind of work. He showed how the minimalist objects serve to point you to what else is going on in the room. I haven't studied Minimalists sets, and I had a different impression of how they were supposed to function.
And I will say I don't think that Minimalist art is a rejection of meaning, per se. It's just finding meaning in a different way. The meaning is in the expanded field of the object, not just within it. It's still meaning, though.
I'm really enjoying this new format of "The case for ...". As somebody who as always found it difficult to understand quote, unquote art, I feel that the way that these subjects are address are very thought provoking. And for that I thank you.
+afroafrophee seconding this!
+afroafrophee I agree, it's a really interesting series. Also, there are ways to express quote unquote art in written word: "art"
This was an incredible video! I felt like I should have given a standing ovation at the end of it! I definitely appreciate minimalist art, but this video helped give me a deeper appreciation.
“It’s just not that into you.”
What a *killer* line that is.
Completely captures the opaque, mute, anti-seductive quality of minimalist art.
I love love love these. Please do one for every major artist and art genre. The worlds needs to hear this; unironically.
I can't smash this like button hard enough. I love this concise, clean, MINIMAL synopsis of the minimalist movement.
I feel like minimalism in fashion may work a little differently. It may represent something like clarity of thought, focus on detail, or be understated to bring out the character in the person wearing it, but all of these examples involve a creative person trying to express something or have a point of view. This kind of minimalism seemed to stem from artists that resisted having any point of view on their work at all. This was challenging.
These "The Case For" episodes are honestly my favorite. It's causing me to look at more of the art that I thought I originally didn't understand or like.
Glad I checked my subscriptions today.
I love these videos so much. As someone who was definitely brought up with the BUT IT'S JUST A BOX mentality, I find it fascinating to see things from a different angle. I like how you present an argument rather than just berating me for not getting it.
My favourite art "movement", even when I don't like any particular artist or artwork of its type. What makes me love minimalism is the perspective it proposes, and the very real feelings it brings out in me, of embracing the simple and the purely material. To just hit the reset button and see an ordinary thing with fresh eyes. Ya know?
Well said. I find it fascinating how I've evolved in my thinking on this style of art.
Like probably _most_ people....I didn't get it at first. In fact, I genuinely kinda loathed it.
Now though? I absolutely love this style of art. I definitely get it....even if I can't entirely articulate why.
What's odd is....my aha moment came when viewing the artwork in the CD booklet to The White Stripes album De Stijl. It immediately resonated with me in a way it never had before. And I haven't seen it the same since. :)
I have and probably always will struggle with minimalism as an art style. Still, this video connected for me how uncommon and pleasant it is to be purposely understimulated, and It's nice to be encouraged to engage with the space around you intentionally and try to be present in that space. It feels more and more valuable as the world gets more and more overwhelming and demanding of our attention. Thank you! I love this channel so much!
I saw a Frank Stella painting in a museum when I was a out nine and absolutely loved it. Minimalism has always made so much sense to me. Plus, I got a fridge magnet out of it.
I feel like I have been trying to say these things to my parents for a long time but much less effectively. Thank you for making some clear talking points so that they can at least appreciate the thoughts behind the work, if not the work itself
I miss this channel i always find my self coming back to these videos. Thank you for that
Wow. I'm mesmerized. Thank you :)
One thing I found interesting when browsing the comment section for minimalism is that people really think about what art is. The absence of emotion in minimal art helps us to think more. Just take a few seconds recollecting the moments when you were writing the comment and what had gone through to form your own idea. This is beauty of minimalism I’d say.
love this. thank you.
I love this channel. It has changed my viewpoint on so many things. Thanks.
Is it ever really possible for art to be devoid of context? I mean, these minimalist works are in the context of art which had been creating "pretension" and requiring the viewer to suspend disbelief. They were subverting preconceived notions of art, which is still a meaning attached to it. And even that is assuming we are respecting the authorial intent to such a degree. At the end of the video, Sarah brings up the idea of the complexity of the world and how this art creates another world that tries to get rid of all that it feels is ephemeral. Either way, the work is a reaction to something, and either has a rebellious meaning of the noted creators, or takes on the subjective baggage of the viewer.
This is a beautiful perspective on the concept of minimalism. Thank you for this video on behalf of all the young artists and students out there seeking quality knowledge.
I still find inspiration from simple objects, they fill my mind with wonder.
This is... wow, I think I'm legitimately inspired for the first time in my life. Kudos, The Art Assignment.
The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin is an amazing example of minimalism, I feel. Walking through the grey concrete boxes in the open air can be oppressive, claustrophobic and upsetting. I also really like that there is so little information about the sculpture itself, so what you feel is absolutely organic and real.
It is too much charged of emotionality to be considered mínimal, in my opinion.
That's so interesting that minimalism is intended to remove emotion, as opposed to what abstract expression had brought. Kinda ironic when people complain about not feeling anything when they look at minimalist work - congratulations, that's exactly what it's supposed to feel like.
Also, I love minimalist interior designs. I hope to design my dream home like that one day.
@@EWKification Yup. 👍
i am delightedly speechless. THANK YOU!!
You're great at explaining this stuff. I'm a fan of this type of work.
Wow. She actually made a really good case for minimalism, especially towards the end. Really well done.
Sarah, can I please be your personal intern? Your ideas and arguments are always outstanding. I want to learn more! MORE!
I was dubious of minimalism until I watched this video. Now I feel like I've found a new respect and appreciation for it, so thank you!
I had, before this video, thought that the point of minimalism was the empty space around it. Now though, I look back on my experiences with minimalism and I agree with the statement that "your position in the room shapes your perception of the thing."
Great video.
You actually convinced me! I really want to go see some when things open up again!
Looking forward to seeing more content like this in the future.
I appreciate minimalism now.
The influence of this artistic current on contemporary architecture is remarkable and the spaces are simply captivating.
Amazing, amazing. Very classy and real, as always.
This actually made me cry. Wow.
I really love these kinds of videos, they make me think differently about the subjects and challenge my perception in a positive way. Thank you :-)
The Michael Fried critique (and the response) is richer than presented here, and if one wants a fuller understanding of Minimalism that's the place to start.
Wonderfully clear!
I think I saw a Rothko in there so I'll use it as an example and comment on that. I used to
strongly dislike his work because I said it didn't do anything, it
wasn't anything, it didn't take much effort, that kind of thing. But
then I saw one in person. And oh boy, did I stand there and just look at
it! It was a big white rectangle with a small bright red one underneath
on top of a paler red background. The whole thing was alive. It was
like it was buzzing or vibrating and I didn't see it until I got up
close. It was great to experience and just be with.
So I get it. I certainly don't think i like this kind of art as much as others, but as you were saying, I think that's the point maybe? It's not trying to "aspire" to that level of "being". It just is a thing.
Great video as always!
Very well done. Thank you.
I absolutely love these case studies!!
I find it fascinating how I've evolved in my thinking on this style of art.
Like probably _most_ people....I didn't get it at first. In fact, I genuinely kinda loathed it.
Now though? I absolutely love this style of art. I definitely get it....even if I can't entirely articulate why.
What's odd is....my aha moment came when viewing the artwork in the CD booklet to The White Stripes album De Stijl. It immediately resonated with me in a way it never had before. And I haven't seen it the same since. :)
Salaam (peace)! This video was absolutely amazing. I love the descriptions of minimalism in regards to it being defined by the one experiencing it via various perspectives. Art that is actually real... in every sense. I love it. The most Beautiful things are usually the Most simple (with a hint of mystery :)) kudos on the amazing post! keep it up!
Excellent presentation! Thank you!
Thank you for this video I love you more each videos :) Your videos are the best, as a product design student, I need those!
This is an excellent short introduction to its subject.
I feel like I needed to watch this video. This was fantastic.
The level of understanding in this content is impressive. A book with akin insights provided a new perspective. "A Life Unplugged: Reclaiming Reality in a Digital Age" by Theodore Blaze
i came here studying for my art history final and confused as to the importance or relevance of the minimalist movement and the video not only answered the question but gave me a new appreciation toward the pointless art
idk why but this gave me chills thank you
Great video! This helped me to understand minimalism in a different way
I personally think that above all, art is to be interesting. If minimalism is a deliberate rejection of that, then I find that in it of itself pretty interesting.
I loved this so much!
Recently, I was helping an artist to put up an installation of a white wall with some volume in it. The artist and the curator had a complex explanation about what it was suppose to evoke (the absence and the beyond) but since i saw it from start to finish, I was like 'meh', but I could not tell them that.
Excellent presentation, thank you.
another gem from the Art Assingment....
Love it! Keep these going!
Beautiful.
Such an amazing and well done video!
This video had me and my partner deep in philosophical argument about the definition of 'art' for a long, long time. He's an engineer and I'm a teacher. Our opinions differ so much on so many topics, so conversations are always extremely interesting. Thanks for an enlightening hour of discussion!
+Bec Welsford You're welcome. Not sure if a "!" or "?" is the appropriate punctuation to end that sentence :)
+The Art Assignment Definitely a "!" :)
I love this video, and I totally see what you're saying. As someone who really enjoys working with his hands, and one who places great value in that gesture, I struggle with pieces where the artist has little or no part in the physical creation of the piece. For example, I've read that Carl Andre, who made some of the stacked wood sculptures in the video, doesn't sculpt or shape his materials in any way. He has somebody else cut the wood. This may seem like a small thing, but it just totally baffles me.
It's kind of interesting to me, then, that Donald Judd, also featured in this video, argued specifically against this idea that the artist has to be physically connected to the creation of their work, and I suppose that an aim of the movement was (is?) to challenge perspectives like my own. Judd de-prioritized the method of creation, and instead emphasized the product, separating the act of doing/making art from the art itself.
I understand that my perspective is problematic and maybe even downright wrong, but, for the moment, I'm ok with that. To me, there is something important in the act of an artist tangibly shaping their materials that, when combined with intentionality, creates "art". I suppose that, in causing me to explore and question this belief, the minimalists may have gotten to me after all...
I would say to keep in mind that minimalist felt strongly and negatively about other types of art. this is what brought them to the work they created. they like us have different opinions, and the only thing we can do with past works of art is to understand the reason for there creation. that said, if you don't prefer minimalism that is totally acceptable, but to dismiss it without understanding it is an entirely different case.
Great video, thanks! I would love to see the case for Joseph Beuys!
I love these videos.
This is the art school I've attended, because I didn't know art could be all this. It makes me think, question and make my own things.
Hands down my favorite art movement because of it's philosophy.
"I don’t think there’s ever been such a rush towards insignificance in the name of the historical future as we’ve seen in the last fifteen years. The famous radicalism of sixties and seventies art turns out to have been a kind of dumbshow, a charade of toughness, a way of avoiding feeling. And I don’t think we are ever again obliged to look at a plywood box, or a row of bricks on the floor, or a video tape of some twit from the University of Central Paranoia sticking pins in himself, and think: ‘This is the real thing. This is the necessary art of our time. This needs respect.’ Because it isn’t, and it doesn’t, and nobody cares. The fact is that anyone except a child can make such things, because children have the kind of direct, sensuous and complex relationship with the world around them that modernism, in its declining years, was trying to deny. That relationship is the lost paradise that art wants to give back to us, not as children but as adults." -Robert Hughes
Robert Morris´Bodyspacemotionthings is more playful and Child-like than any oil painting will ever be.
💕
Beautiful video.
I love your commentary, Sarah - and I love minimalism.
👍
Wow I never thought it that way!
excellent video! I adore this kind of art :)
Oh, I love this channel so much!
+Melissa Prado
I like how art critique has to reevaluate the way they understood and talked about the art object. It sort of brought phenomenology into the picture - this sense of body and space.
+annaliviams Yes, definitely! Phenomenology is mentioned throughout literature about Minimalism. I tried here to describe what it is without possibly alienating people with the word.
Yes! minimalist art and the worth people impart on it has never made sense to me. Now I know that the artist never intended it to be this way.
I feel like I can look at minimalism in a new way.
Amazing video. Brought a tear to my eye. But unfortunately it missed one of the most important things about minimalism. That great minimalism departs the subjective art of mankind but enters the objective (at least objective to this universe) art of mathematics (both theoretical and biological mathematics).
great video. powerful!
This is the first video I've seen from this channel and I loved it :D
Time to binge watch the rest
+Arturo Gutierrez Welcome to the community. I hope you make some stuff too.
SciJoy I do, but it's all in digital form, so I don't think it would apply among museum-themed art discussions :P
+Arturo Gutierrez +Arturo Gutierrez if you watch some of the other episodes you will see most of the stuff discussed in this series are not really museum-themed. :)
I love this
It's funny because working in architecture - I'm constantly trying to make boxes and spaces that are simple and elegant. When people say to me that they don't think minimalist art is interesting - I actually have a hard time understanding how that could be possible. Lol.
+ARTiculations Hah. But I do think that's because people want vastly different things from their architecture than their art. No?
+The Art Assignment haha yes probably. Although I'd love to walk into a building that looks like a Dali painting or something.
+ARTiculations I was totally thinking about architecture too while watching this, no surprise. ;) That spatial experience that some minimalism art aims for, and the spatial experience that architecture creates, ring pretty similar.
amazing.
Insightful.
Awesome Video!
Wow!!! Such a great great video
I have a new appreciation for minimalistic art
The name sounds a bit ironic now since there so much to it in many ways lol
+Cyn Cruz Yes indeed! Not so minimal at all.
Great video!
Cool video. Very informative
Abstract and minimalist art have become my favorites as I have grown as a person. To me, art has no legitimate meaning because it is actually a human creation. Everything we use to make art already exists in the universe whether they're together or not. It doesn't matter whether it's the Mona Lisa or just a red canvas, it is all made of matter.
There is something very powerful in providing the absolute smallest amount of information to produce a desired effect.
"Minimalism" is honest in its singularity; sublime objects that are immediately read. They are a meditation in stillness.
The first time I saw a Donald Judd in person, I gasped at how suddenly I existed in the space it occupied; "I wanna touch it, but I don't" kept running through my head.
+Drew Liedtke yes! FYI, we just visited a Judd outside at LACMA that you CAN touch. Not one of his perfect finish ones, of course, but still fulfilling to touch it. Highly recommend.
Now I don't disagree with the idea of minimalism, as i do find it's simplicity wonderful. The problem I have lies with an ordinary box selling for thousands of dollars because some one put it in a room and said look at it.
I find minimalist art electrifying. These objects have weight and power when you come into their presence. They are worthwhile.
I've seen some of those in person!
Great !
This was cool. Thank you
I feel increasingly tired with rejecting what came before. iconoclasm. I feel that in many ways it's much braver to just make, make whatever is best, most real most beautiful. we can forever go on applauding new, revolutionary things, but outside of the reaction, where is its essence? will art forever chase its own tail?
Minimalism is a great form of art. It is so liberating, because it only talks only about art. It does not give any room for the artist to talk about reality. It tells you the truth about the illusions that exist in reality. Minimalism tells you the truth that you must hear, because realism and expressionism in art history do not speak the truth. You need to understand the science and psychology of illusions and human perception, in order to understand and appreciate minimalism as a true form of art. Illusions do exist in reality, and they do lie to you. So, how can you place your trust in reality? Hence, you need to move away from reality, and you need to embrace art. If you embrace art, then you must embrace minimalism to gain access to the truth. The truths of minimalism can set the human mind and the human spirit free. It is all a very liberating endeavor.
I always thought that there was a meaning behind them, thanks for enlightening me!
+Shog AL Mas Well, there isn't meaning "locked inside" them, but I still think meaning is there, floating around it, in it's place in the world, and in your interaction with it. It's just a different kind of meaning that we are perhaps accustomed to unlocking within art. Does that make any sense?
this is perfect 😉☺