Art: Process & Theory

Welcome Evergreeners!
Thanks to everyone who participated in Saturday's class, working your way through Richard Serra's Verb List (1967). The entire list is here (thanks to ubuweb.com, their link is at the right) and we'll be referring to it periodically throughout the course.

Approaching the idea of making art by exploring the process-- how the work is made AS the reason it's made-- may be very different than how many people have worked in the past. Serra's Verb List pointed to this in 1967 and was a new way of exploring sculptural practices. Rather than focusing on an object (or drawing, or painting), Serra is attempting to consider sculpture as a series of actions or, more pointedly, as a verb. Sculpture is not something made, but something done. While it frequently results in an object, sculpture can be (for Serra and us) considered as an activity. Works from this period (and some before) focus on this question. Nauman, Serra, Wegman, and others sought to understand their relationship to their environment. Their work attempted to open up questions of the body-- frequently their bodies-- relative to an object or space (or environment). Painters such as Hermann Nitsch, Jackson Pollack, Yves Klien, Niki de St. Phalle and others also ask these questions with their works (or their works can be seen more clearly through this frame).

In fact, what I hope to show with the class is that for the last half century (and further), this focus on process HAS and IS crucial in making and understanding how we use art in our culture. This focus is going to be difficult, and I will be providing a ton of support-- writings, videos, audio, discussion, examples (exhibitions, movements, specific works), but most of all experiments. We'll try making things and look deeply at trends that may appear between and in those things.

In asking the class to *document* an everyday occurrence-- toothbrushing, making coffee-- you may find it useful to try many different ways of recording the action(s). How do you depict these things in drawing or photographs? What is the vantage point? Lighting? Time of day? How quickly do you need to draw to get a sense of the activity? Is it a series of gesture drawings perhaps? Snapshots? Perhaps a set of written directions? All of the above?

Some of the other pieces we discussed include Steve Reich's Pendulum Music (1968). His description of the project is linked on the right, and I'm still looking for an online audio sample of the work...

William Wegman's is a multimedia artist, and some of his videos are available as quicktime movies here

FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 12
Remember, this coming Saturday will be dedicated to making your process book(s), and I would highly recommend bringing a range of papers, cardboard, chipboard, a ruler (I forgot to mention this in class, but it would be REALLY helpful), a 1/16" hole punch, some sewing needles, embroidery floss (or binding thread), and a pencil. I'll be demonstrating
a number of structures (folded and sewn), and you will have ample time to experiment.

In thinking about the size of the book you will be making, consider what you typically record, where you typically record it, and how you are going to carry this book around with you. And check back here frequently as I'll be adding a series of links on the right hand side that will reference back to earlier postings that you may find useful. Oh wait, I just did this. But there will be more in the future.