SDNR

Minimalism

Here is a sample of works by Richard Serra. Serra is regarded by many to be the greatest living sculptor in the western world.

I love his sculptures ...made from massive sheets of steel -- they are calming, and yet, at the same time, threatening.

SDNR

Hmmm, I guess my weekend threads are not very popular

Maserati

humm .. not really Roberto, might be those designs so difficult for "normal" people to understand and appreciate . actually I find them quite interesting and amusing to watch. BUT really I dunno the meaning of most designing terminologies like Minimalism and such words.

Mr. M

I agree with you MJaaFY. We're laymen.

SDNR

Hmm, Oh OK ...I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be clever or anything ...art can be confusing. I just thought maybe people could post art they like ..any art is great, it doesn't have to be western art.

BTW MJaaFY, Minimalism is an art movement that started in the 1960s ...but the ideas of Minimalism have been a part of Modern Art right throughout the Twentieth century. Minimalism is essentially reducing an object to it's most pure form ...it does not necessarily depict or mean anything -- it is more about creating a kind of purity ...but one that is metaphysical ...that is, this art exists in a kind of virtual universe (in the mind of the artist) ..the physical sculpture is a "glimpse" of a pure world ...a world where edges are perfect 90 degree angles and lines are perfectly straight -- which, of course, is technically impossible in the real world ..but these art objects are intended to inspire such a perfect realm. The Sculptures I posted earlier [by Richard Serra] are an interesting development of these ideas of perfection ...they are irregular and decayed ...in this respect they create a different kind of impression from the ideas of perfection seen in the Donald Judd sculptures below.

We can see the roots of Minimalism in the paintings of Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian .

Aeroplane-flying painted in 1915 by Kasimir Malevich.


Composition painted in 1930 by Piet Mondrian.


Some Minimalist sculpture by Donald Judd.

Maserati

thanks for clearing things up Roberto, well I guessed the meaning at first but now I have a clear picture of what Minimalism means actually. My problem is that I've never been to an art classes or art school although I appreciate art big time.

Thanks again Rob.

SDNR

No problem MJaaFY ...I know some people feel intimidated by art, especially Modern and contemporary art ....but it really is not nearly as complex as some art museum curators would have us believe. Unfortunately there are a lot of very silly people in the art world who like to think they are very intellectual and clever. Most great artists are not like that at all, they are generally people with great integrity and an intense passion for their work ...even if it is not always easily understood at first.

Snake Vargas

I guess Minimalism, to me, is reducing an object to its most simple form, or its essence, if you will.

Such art is less accessible to the everyman and everywoman because it's not immediately obvious what it's meant to mean. Unless you subscribe to relativism (where the meaning in something is more or less whatever the reader/viewer/audience wishes to derive), which I don't, then it takes a little knowledge of the artwork, artist, context or, something - in order to make sense of the artwork. I guess it's not always immediately profound at first contact.

Nevertheless, those first pictures are cool - it would be cool to have one in the lobby of my house or something (and depending whether it's coated or stainless or not, if I could stand the permanent smell of rusting steel). Imposing and forceful, but, especially those wavy ones, peaceful, as you say.

Btw, I think I've got a print of "Composition" by Mondrian lying around somewhere, literally - um, I thought it was a 'junk' painting of miscellaneous provenance. Sigh. Heh. I suppose I am mistaken

SDNR

Oh yes SV, Mondrian is a major artist of the twentieth century.

A contemporary artist I really like is Anish Kapoor ...some very interesting work.





This extraordinary and massive sculpture by Anish Kapoor is called Marsyas.















This 110-ton sculpture is called Cloud Gate, Kapoor completed it in 2004.

Matt

Very cool art, Robert. I dont know anything about art but for some reason even I can appreciate it.