Post

 Minimalism  and  Process  Art  

Art  109A:    Art  since  1945  

Westchester  Community  College  
Fall  2012  
Dr.  Melissa  Hall  
The  1960s  
Race  riots  
PoliCcal  assassinaCons  
AnC-­‐war  movement  

An  anC-­‐war  demonstrator  burns  his  draO  card  at  

a  Vietnam  War  protest  outside  the  Pentagon  in   Race  riots  in  the  WaGs  secCon  of  Los  Angeles,  August  11-­‐15,  1965  
October  1967.(Photo  by  Wally  McNamee  via   hGp://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/1960.htm  
Corbis)  
The  1960s  
Minimalists  remain  aloof  from  poliCcs  

“ArCsts  should  poliCcize  themselves  as  

ciCzens,  demonstraCng  and  protesCng  
when  necessary,  but  art  should  be  free  
of  poliCcal  responsibility.  .  .  “  
Donald  Judd,  Ar*orum,  1970  

Donald  Judd,  Un#tled,  1969  

Hirshhorn  Museum  
The  1960s  
Minimalism  and  Pop:  
 Impersonality  (reacCon  against  Ab  Ex  
“boring  display  of  emoCon”)  
 Serial  repeCCon  (echoing  modern  
forms  of  mass  producCon)  
 Industrial  materials  and  methods  
(screenprinCng;  skillsaws;  rolled  steel)  
The  1960s  
Anna  Chave  argues  that  Minimalism  
internalized  the  impersonal  values  of  
American  corporate  power  

Art  Historian  Anna  Chave,  at  a  Rutgers  University  symposium,  2007  

Image  source:    hGp://arthistory.rutgers.edu/events/newsleGer/2008/fword.php  
"By  manufacturing  objects  with  
common  industrial  and  commercial  
materials  in  a  restricted  vocabulary  of  
geometric  shapes,  Judd  and  the  other  
Minimalist  arCsts  availed  themselves  
of  the  cultural  authority  of  the  makers  
of  industry  and  technology”  
Anna  Chave,  “ The  Rhetoric  of  Power”  

Mies  van  der  Rohe,  IBM  Building,  Chicago  

1969-­‐71  
"The  Minimalist's  domineering,  
someCmes  brutal  rhetoric  was  
breached  in  this  country  in  the  
1960's,  a  decade  of  brutal  
displays  of  power  by  both  the  
American  military  in  Vietnam,  
and  the  police  at  home  in  the  
streets  and  on  University  
campuses  across  the  country.    
Corporate  power  burgeoned  in  
the  U.S.  in  the  1960's  too,  with  
the  rise  of  'mulCnaConals',  due  in  
part  to  the  flourishing  of  the  
military-­‐industrial  complex.”  
Anna  Chave,  “ The  Rhetoric  of  Power”  
The  1960s  
The  1960s  counter  culture  revolted  
against  the  values  of  the  
“establishment”  

An  anC-­‐war  demonstrator  burns  his  draO  card  at  a  

Vietnam  War  protest  outside  the  Pentagon  in  October  
1967.(Photo  by  Wally  McNamee  via  Corbis)  

hGp://www.utwatch.org/archives/disorientut2005/military.html  
The  1960s  
It  rebelled  against  “progress”  and  the  
corporate  ideology  of  the  “military-­‐
industrial”  complex  

General  Dynamics,  Fort  Worth  Texas,  1969  

hGp://www.f-­‐111.net/RAAF-­‐F-­‐111s-­‐off-­‐the-­‐producCon-­‐line-­‐1.htm  
The  1960s  
To  many  younger  arCsts,  Minimalism  
was  now  synonymous  with  the  blank  
visage  of  corporate  power  and  
insCtuConal  authority  

Mies  van  der  Rohe,  IBM  Building,  Chicago  

1969-­‐71  

Ronald  Bladen,  The  Cathedral  Evening,  1972  

Empire  State  Plaze,  Albany  
 Minimalism  and  the1960s  Counter  Culture  

"Presently  we  need  more  than  silent  cubes,  blank  

canvases,  and  gleaming  white  walls  .  .  .  ."  
John  Perrault  

Donald  Judd,  100  un#tled  works  in  mill  aluminum,  1982-­‐1986   Pulitzer  prize  winning  photograph  of  Kent  State  Massacre  by  Paul  Filo  
ChinaC  FoundaCon  
 The  1960s  

We  are  sick  to  death  of  cold  plazas  and  

monotonous  'curtain  wall'  skyscrapers  .  .  .  .”  
John  Perrault  

Mies  van  der  Rohe,  Seagrams  Building,  NYC  

1958  
Post  Minimalism  
Post  Minimalism  was  a  reacCon  against  
the  authoritarian  codes  of  minimalism  
Post  Minimalism  
Coined  by  the  art  historian  and  criCc  Robert  Pincus-­‐
WiGen,  Post-­‐Minimalism  refers  to  a  general  
reacCon  by  arCsts  in  America  beginning  in  the  late  
1960s  against  Minimalism  and  its  insistence  on  
closed,  geometric  forms.  These  dissenCng  arCsts  
eschewed  the  impersonal  object  for  more  open  
forms.  Rather  than  adhere  to  pure  formalism,  Post-­‐
Minimalist  arCsts  oOen  made  explicit  the  psychical  
and  physical  processes  involved  in  the  actualizaCon  
of  art  and  oOen  reflected  personal  and  social  
concerns  in  their  works.
 hGp://www.guggenheim.org/new-­‐york/collecCons/collecCon-­‐online/show-­‐full/
movement/?search=Post-­‐Minimalism  
Post  Minimalism  
OOen  called  “Process  Art,”  Post  
Process  Art  
Minimalism  was  characterized  by  a   Process  art  emphasizes  the  “process”  of  making  art  
concern  with  process  and  materials   (rather  than  any  predetermined  composiCon  or  
plan)  and  the  concepts  of  change  and  transience  .  .  .  
[This]  interest  in  process  .  .  .  has  precedents  in  the  
Abstract  Expressionists’  use  of  unconvenConal  
methods  such  as  dripping  and  staining  .  .  .  
Process  arCsts  were  involved  in  issues  aGendant  to  
the  body,  random  occurrences,  improvisaCon,  and  
the  liberaCng  qualiCes  of  nontradiConal  materials  
such  as  wax,  felt,  and  latex.  Using  these,  they  
created  eccentric  forms  in  erraCc  or  irregular  
arrangements  produced  by  acCons  such  as  curng,  
hanging,  and  dropping,  or  organic  processes  such  as  
growth,  condensaCon,  freezing,  or  decomposiCon.  
hGp://www.guggenheim.org/new-­‐york/collecCons/collecCon-­‐online/show-­‐full/
movement/?search=Process%20art  
An6-­‐Form  
In  1968  Morris  published  an  arCcle  in  
Ar*orum  Ctled  “AnC-­‐Form”  in  which  
he  challenged  the  dominance  of  
geometric  regularity  as  an  aestheCc  
orthodoxy    

“A  morphology  of  geometric,  

predominantly  rectangular  forms  
has  been  accepted  as  a  given  
premise”  
Robert  Morris,  “AnC-­‐Form,”  Ar*orum,  
1968      

Robert  Morris,  Two  Columns,  1961    

An6-­‐Form  
He  argued  that  Minimalism  is  
“authoritarian”  because  it    imposes  
order  on  materials  

“The  process  of  "making  itself"  has  hardly  

been  examined.”  
Robert  Morris,  “AnC-­‐Form,”  Ar*orum,  1968      

Donald  Judd,  Un#tled,  1967  

An6-­‐Form  
Even  a  simple  box  is  sCll  a  “depicCon”  
of  a  preconceived  idea  of  geometric  
regularity  

“Art  of  the  60s  was  an  art  of  

depicCng  images.    But  depicCon  as  
a  mode  seems  primiCve  because  it  
involves  implicitly  asserCng  forms  
as  being  prior  to  substances.”  
Robert  Morris,  “Notes  on  Sculpture  4:    
Beyond  Objects,”  Ar*orum  April  1969  

Donald  Judd,  Un#tled,  1968  

Walker  Art  Center  
An6-­‐Form  
Morris  proposed  that  the  “next  step”  
was  to  replace  pre-­‐concepCon  with  
process,  ciCng  Jackson  Pollock  and  
Morris  Louis  as  precedents  

“It  remained  for  Pollock  and  Louis  

to  go  beyond  the  personalism  of  
the  hand  to  the  more  direct  
revelaCon  of  maGer  itself.”  
Robert  Morris,  “AnC-­‐Form,”  Ar*orum  
1968  

Hans  Namuth,  Pollock  working  in  his  studio,  1951  

An6-­‐Form  
Process  would  enable  the  material  
itself  to  become  the  “author”  of  the  
work  

“The  focus  on  maGer  and  gravity  

as  means  results  in  forms  which  
were  not  projected  in  advance  .  .  .  
Random  piling,  loose  stacking,  
hanging,  give  passing  form  to  the  
material.  Chance  is  accepted  and  
indeterminacy  is  implied    .  .  .  .”    
Robert  Morris,  “AnC-­‐Form,”  Ar*orum  
1968  

Ernst  Haas,  Helen  Frankenthaler  at  work  in  her  studio,  1969  
Image  source:    
hGp://www.ernst-­‐haas.com/celebrity_frankenthalerHelen1.html  
An6-­‐Form  
In  the  late  1960's,  Morris  began  
working  with  malleable  materials  such  
as  felt  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled,  1969  

MOMA  
An6-­‐Form  
Geometry  and  regularity  are  used,  but  
the  piece  “happens”  when  the  arCst  
allows  the  material  to  assert  its  own  
idenCty    

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled,  1969  

MOMA  
 An6-­‐Form  
The  art  that  [Robert  Morris]  and  others  
began  to  explore  at  the  end  of  the  
1960s  stressed  the  unusual  materials  
they  employed—industrial  
components  such  as  wire,  rubber,  and  
felt—and  their  response  to  simple  
acCons  such  as  curng  and  dropping.  
Un#tled  (Pink  Felt)  (1970),  for  example,  
is  composed  of  dozens  of  sliced  pink  
industrial  felt  pieces  that  have  been  
dropped  unceremoniously  on  the  floor.  
Morris’s  scaGered  felt  strips  obliquely  
allude  to  the  human  body  through  
their  response  to  gravity  and  epidermal  
quality.  The  ragged  irregular  contours  
of  the  jumbled  heap  refuse  to  conform  
to  the  strict  unitary  profile  that  is  
characterisCc  of  Minimalist  sculpture.   Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Pink  Felt),  1970  
Guggenheim  Museum   Guggenheim  
An6-­‐Form  
Morris  was  envisioning  an  art  that  
does  not  rely  on  pre-­‐concep#on  
(where  preconcepCon  is  associated  
with  “authority”  and  “control”)  

He  was  proposing  a  kind  of  

“authorless”  art  in  which  the  materials  
themselves,  and  the  real  condi#ons  in  
which  they  exist,  form  the  work  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Pink  Felt),  1970  

Guggenheim  
An6-­‐Form  
Richard  Serra  was  also  re-­‐
conceptualizing  sculpture  in  terms  of  
process  and  materials  

Richard  Serra,  photo  Steve  Pyke  

Image  source:    hGp://www.flowerseast.com/Originals_ExhibiCons.asp?ExhibiCon=07FNYSP&OE=1  
An6-­‐Form  
In  1967-­‐68  Serra  compiled  a  list  of    
transiCve  verbs  that  became  the  basis  
for  his  sculptural  work    

Richard  Serra,  Verb  List,  1967-­‐68  

An6-­‐Form  
The  list  describes  processes  that  derive  
from  the  “acCon”  concept  of  Abstract  
Expressionism  –  but  “acCon”  minus  
the  emoCon  
An6-­‐Form  
Serra’s  work  became  an  invesCgaCon  
of  what  happens  when  a  parCcular  
process  (such  as  rolling,  creasing,  
folding)  encounters  the  specific  
properCes  of  a  material    

Richard  Serra,  Verb  List,  1967-­‐68  

An6-­‐Form  
In  this  work,  the  arCst  applied  the  verb  
“to  liO”  to  a  sheet  of  vulcanized  rubber  

Richard  Serra,  To  LiO,  1967.  Vulcanized  rubber.  36”  x  6’8”  x  60  (91.4×200  
×  152.4  cm).  CollecCon  of  the  arCst  
hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-­‐serra  
An6-­‐Form  
For  an  exhibiCon  at  Leo  Castelli’s  
warehouse  in  1968,  Serra  created  
Splashing  in  which  he  flung  molten  
lead  into  the  angle  where  the  floor  
meets  the  wall  

Richard  Serra,  Splashing,  Leo  Castelli  Warehouse,  New  York,  1968  

An6-­‐Form  
When  cooled,  the  lead  hardened  into  
solid  form  

Richard  Serra,  Splashing,  Leo  Castelli  Warehouse,  New  York,  1968  

An6-­‐Form  
Prop  consists  of  a  sheet  of  lead  held  to  
the  wall  by  a  lead  pipe  leaning  against  
it  

Richard  Serra,  Prop,  1968.  Lead.  Plate  

Whitney  Museum  of  American  Art  
hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-­‐serra  
An6-­‐Form  
Compare  to  Donald  Judd’s  stacks,  
where  the  properCes  of  materials  and  
methods  of  construcCon  are  concealed  
(much  like  the  “brushstrokes”  in  a  
painCng  by  Ingres)  

Richard  Serra,  Prop,  (foreground),  and  Floor  Pole  Prop  

(background),  at  Richard  Serra:    Forty  Years,  MOMA,  2007  
An6-­‐Form  
Resembling  Tony  Smith’s  Die,  this  piece  
consists  of  four  500lb  sheets  of  lead  
propped  against  one  another  like  a  
"house  of  cards"  

Richard  Serra,  One  Ton  Prop  (House  of  Cards),  1969.    Lead  anCnomy  
Museum  of  Modern  Art  
An6-­‐Form  
Tony  Smith’s  Die:  
 StaCc;  controlled  
 Adheres  to  a  pre-­‐conceived  schema  

Tony  Smith,  Die,  1962  

Museum  of  Modern  Art  
An6-­‐Form  
Serra  creates  a  "theatrical"  situaCon  
where  the  viewer  experiences  the  
literal  (rather  than  “pictorial”)  
relaConships  of  material,  weight,  and  
gravity  

Richard  Serra,  One  Ton  Prop  (House  of  Cards),  1969.    Lead  anCnomy  
Museum  of  Modern  Art  
Richard  Serra  
Richard  Serra’s  later  works  became  
increasingly  involved  with  creaCng  
“situaCons”  rather  than  “objects”  

Richard  Serra,  Delineator,  1974-­‐75.  Hot-­‐rolled  steel.  Two  plates,  each:  

1”  x  10’  X  26’    
 CollecCon  of  the  arCst.  
hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-­‐serra  
Richard  Serra  
In  Delineator,  the  arCst  placed  two  
large  plates  of  steel  on  the  floor  and  
ceiling    

As  we  enter  the  space  we  immediately  

begin  to  orient  ourselves  in  relaCon  to  
the  forms.      

The  piece  “tends  to  turn  you,”  as  the  

arCst  explains,  and  “reframes  the  
room,”  so  that  the  space  of  the  room  
itself  becomes  the  sculptural  work  

Richard  Serra,  Delineator,  1974-­‐75.  Hot-­‐rolled  steel.  Two  plates,  each:  

1”  x  10’  X  26’    
 CollecCon  of  the  arCst.  
hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-­‐serra  
“My  sculptures  are  not  objects  for  
the  viewer  to  stop  and  stare  at.  The  
historical  purpose  of  placing  
sculpture  on  a  pedestal  was  to  
establish  a  separaCon  between  the  
sculpture  and  the  viewer.  I  am  
interested  in  creaCng  a  behavioral  
space  in  which  the  viewer  interacts  
with  the  sculpture  in  its  context.”  
Richard  Serra  

Richard  Serra,  Delineator,  1974-­‐75.  Hot-­‐rolled  steel.  Two  plates,  each:  1”  x  10’  X  26’    
 CollecCon  of  the  arCst.  
hGp://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/07/art/richard-­‐serra  
Richard  Serra  
Serra’s  Titled  Arc  was  a  monumentally  
scaled  site-­‐specific  work  

It  was  commissioned  by  the  NEA  Art  in  

Public  Places  Grant,  which  sets  aside  a  
percentage  of  public  building  funds  for  
sculpture  in  public  spaces  

Richard  Serra,  Tilted  Arc,  1981  

Richard  Serra  
The  120  foot  long  curving  wall  was  
designed  to  engage  viewers  in  an  
“encounter”  that  would  heighten  
awareness  of  the  public  space  

Richard  Serra,  Tilted  Arc,  1981  

Federal  Plaza,  NYC  
Photo  ©  1985  David  Aschkenas  
Richard  Serra  
However,  the  work  was  so  disliked  by  
the  people  who  used  the  plaza  that  a  
public  protest  was  organized  and  the  
work  was  eventually  removed  

Richard  Serra,  Tilted  Arc,  1981  

Federal  Plaza,  NYC  
Photo  ©  1985  David  Aschkenas  
Richard  Serra  

“The  Tilted  Arc,  decision  prompts  general  

quesCons  about  public  art,  an  increasingly  
controversial  subject  through  the  late  1980s  and  
early  1990s  in  the  U.S.  and  abroad.  The  role  of  
government  funding,  an  arCst's  rights  to  his  or  her  
work,  the  role  of  the  public  in  determining  the  
value  of  a  work  of  art,  and  whether  public  art  
should  be  judged  by  its  popularity  are  all  heatedly  
debated.  Serra's  career  conCnues  to  flourish,  
despite  the  controversy.  "I  don't  think  it  is  the  
funcCon  of  art  to  be  pleasing,"  he  comments  at  the  
Cme.  "Art  is  not  democraCc.  It  is  not  for  the  
people."  Other  works  by  Serra  are  in  the  
permanent  collecCon  of  museums  around  the  
world.”  
hGp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/
Cltedarc_a.html  
Richard  Serra  
Serra’s  more  recent  work  was  recently  
the  focus  of  a  retrospecCve  at  the  
Museum  of  Modern  Art  

His  large  scale  architectural  

installaCons  exemplify  an  approach  to  
sculpture  that  is  more  focused  on  
creaCng  “situaCons”  and  “experience”  
rather  than  “objects”  

Richard  Serra  inside  his  piece  Sequence  in  one  of  the  second-­‐floor  
galleries  of  the  Museum  of  Modern  Art  in  New  York  City  on  May,  16,  
2007  
Beyond  Objects  
Robert  Morris  was  also  moving  away  
from  the  producCon  of  "objects"  
towards  the  creaCon  of  "situaCons."  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Pink  Felt),  1970  

Guggenheim  
Beyond  Objects  
In  an  essay  published  in  Ar*orum  in  
1969,  he  proclaimed  the  making  of  
objects  to  be  obsolete  

“Work  that  results  in  a  finished  

product  .  .  .  finalized  with  respect  to  
either  Cme  or  space  .  .  .  no  longer  
has  much  relevance”  
Robert  Morris,  “Notes  on  Sculpture  4:    
Beyond  Objects,”  Ar*orum  April  1969  
Beyond  Objects  
He  called  for  a  shiO  from  the  
producCon  of  “objects”  to  the  creaCon  
of  “situaCons”    

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled,  1969  

MOMA  
Beyond  Objects  
Minimalism  already  began  this  
process,  but  the  object  remained  the  
“star”  of  the  show  
Beyond  Objects  
The  objects  remained  “figures”  
inhabiCng  the  visual  field,  much  like  
the  figure/ground  relaConship  in  a  
tradiConal  Renaissance  painCng    

Raymond  Holbert,  Perspec#ve  Study,  2004  

hGp://memorybanque.com/perspecCve.html  
Beyond  Objects  
But  what  if  we  made  the  viewer  the  
“figure”  and  the  sculpture  the  “visual  
field”?  

Yayoi  Kusama,  Mirror  Room  -­‐  Phalli’s  Field,  museum  Boymans  

van  Beuningen  in  RoGerdam  
Image  source:    Flickr    
Beyond  Objects  
In  Un#tled  (Threadwaste)  Morris  
recycled  another  industrial  material  -­‐-­‐  
threadwaste  used  for  industrial  
packing,  which  he  scaGered  on  the  
floor  in  an  amorphous  mass  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  1968  

InstallaCon  at  Museé  Art  Contemporain,  Lyon,  2006  
Photo  by  Blaise  Adilon    
“To  this  Morris  added  miscellaneous  felt  pieces,  copper  tubing,  and  chunks  of  
asphalt.    From  within  the  mass  of  this  material  .  .  .  rise  a  number  of  rectangular  
double-­‐sided  mirrors,  that,  in  their  reflecCons,  produce  an  uncanny  replicaCon  of  
the  scaGer  piece’s  horizontal  sprawl.”  
Robert  Morris:    The  Mind  Body  Problem,  exh.  Cat.  Guggenheim  Museum,  1994,  p.  226  
Beyond  Objects  
The  work  is  like  a  Pollock,  minus  the  
“transcendental  signified”  of  the  arCst,  
and  minus  the  precious  objectness  of  a  
painCng  that  can  be  framed  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  1968  

InstallaCon  at  Museé  Art  Contemporain,  Lyon,  2006  
Photo  by  Blaise  Adilon    
    
Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  detail  Photo  by  Blaise  Adilon
Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  1968  
Centro  per  L”Arte  Contemporonea,  Prato,  2005    
Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  1968  
MOMA  
Beyond  Objects  
The  emphasis  on  experience  through  
Cme  has  affiniCes  with  Happenings  

Robert  Morris,  Un#tled  (Threadwaste),  1968  

InstallaCon  at  Museé  Art  Contemporain,  Lyon,  2006  
Photo  by  Blaise  Adilon    
Beyond  Objects  
Barry  Le  Va  was  also  working  with  so-­‐
called  “scaGer  pieces”  

Barry  Le  Va,  Con#nuous  and  Related  Ac#vi#es;  Discon#nued  by  the  Act  of  
Dropping,  1967  (installaCon  view,  Full  House:  Views  of  the  Whitney’s  CollecCon  
at  75,  Whitney  Museum  of  American  Art,  2006).  Felt  and  glass,  dimensions  
variable.  Whitney  Museum  of  American  Art,  
 Beyond  Objects  
“A  recipe  for  a  typical  early  Le  Va  piece  
might  run  something  like:  "Cover  the  
floor  with  long  parallel  lines  of  flour.  Set  
electric  fans  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  
Turn  them  on."  From  simple  acts  like  
this  came  moments  of  startling,  
ephemeral  beauty  whose  genesis  the  
viewer  reconstructs.  The  work  became,  
it  was  oOen  said,  a  series  of  "clues,"  the  
viewer  a  detecCve  who  recreated  events  
-­‐  in  the  hope  of  experiencing  Cme,  
space  and  materials  in  a  more  mindful,  
uncentered  way”  
Roberta  Smith,  “Minimal  and  Mad  in  
Equilibrium,”  NY  Times,  Feb  25  2005  
Barry  Le  Va,  Con#nuous  and  Related  Ac#vi#es;  Discon#nued  by  the  Act  of  
Dropping,  1967  (installaCon  view,  Full  House:  Views  of  the  Whitney’s  CollecCon  
at  75,  Whitney  Museum  of  American  Art,  2006).  Felt  and  glass,  dimensions  
variable.  Whitney  Museum  of  American  Art,  
 “  First  created  in  1967,  this  work  consists  of  large  
and  small  pieces  of  felt  casually  piled  and  strewn  
about  the  floor  and  topped  off  with  a  single,  
large  sheet  of  broken  glass.  It  was  clearly  
dropped  onto  the  felt,  where  it  shaGered  and  
terminated  any  further  arranging.  The  glass  is  
"like  a  period,"  the  arCst  says  in  the  audio  guide  
to  the  show.”  
Barry  Le  Va’s  Con#nuous  and  Related  Ac#vi#es;  Discon#nued  by  the  Act  of  Dropping  (1967)   Roberta  Smith,  “Minimal  and  Mad  in  Equilibrium,”  NY  Times,  Feb  25  2005  
Beyond  Commodi6es  
Postminimalism  also  moved  
beyond  the  producCon  of  
“aestheCc  objects”  that  could  be  
packaged  and  sold  as  
“commodiCes.”    

This  can  be  seen  parCcularly  well  

in  a  landmark  exhibiCon  that  
Robert  Morris  curated  at  Leo  
Castelli’s  warehouse  on  east  
108th  street  in  1968.    

InstallaCon  view  of  “9  at  Leo  Castelli,”  1968  

 It  hardly  looks  like  an  “art”  exhibiCon  at  all!  

InstallaCon  view  of  “9  at  Leo  Castelli,”  1968  

On  floor  clockwise  from  leO:    William  Bollinger,  Un#tled;  Steve  Kaltenbach,  Un#tled;  Bruce  Nauman,  John  Coltrane  Piece;  Gilberto  Zorio,  Un#tled;  Eva  Hesse,  Augment;  On  wall:    Keith  
Sonnier  Un#tled  and  Mustee  
Image  source:    Lisa  Phillips,  The  American  Century  
Beyond  Commodi6es  
Minimalism  had  already  deflated  the  
preciousness  of  the  art  object  by  
presenCng  “specific  objects”  without  
pedestal  or  frame  

Donald  Judd,  Un#tled,  1968.    Enamel  on  aluminum  

Guggenheim  Museum  
Beyond  Commodi6es  
But  compared  to  the  work  displayed  in  
Castelli’s  warehouse  Minimalism  looks  
as  prisCne  and  “ideal”  as  a  Greek  
statue!  

InstallaCon  view  of  “9  at  Leo  Castelli,”  1968  

Beyond  Objects  
This  lack  of  aestheCc  quality  was  
important:    arCsts  such  as  Robert  
Morris  believed  that  “quality”  and  
“beauty”  only  served  to  transform  art  
into  an  easily  consumable  product.  

“From  such  a  point  of  view  the  concern  

with  ‘quality’  in  art  can  only  be  another  
form  of  consumer  research  .  .  .  “  
Robert  Morris,  “Notes  on  Sculpture  4:    Beyond  
Objects,”  Ar*orum  April  1969  
InstallaCon  view  of  “9  at  Leo  Castelli,”  1968  
 Beyond  Objects  
While  vanguard  art  was  moving  away  
from  “art  stars”  and  “aestheCcs,”  the  
market  was  perpetually  re-­‐converCng  
these  advances  into  consumable  
“objects.”  

“At  the  present  Cme  the  culture  is  

engaged  in  the  hosCle  and  deadly  act  of  
immediate  acceptance  of  all  new  
perceptual  art  moves,  absorbing  through  
insCtuConal  recogniCon  every  art  act.    
The  work  discussed  has  not  been  
accepted.”  
Robert  Morris,  “Notes  on  Sculpture  4:    Beyond  
Objects,”  Ar*orum  April  1969  
Beyond  Objects  
Post  Minimalism  was  driven  in  part  by  
a  resistance  to  the  market  that  
paralleled  the  counter  cultural  
concerns  of  the  1960s  

“A  dissaCsfacCon  with  the  current  social  

and  poliCcal  system  results  in  an  
unwillingness  to  produce  commodiCes  
which  graCfy  and  perpetuate  that  system.    
Here  the  spheres  of  ethics  and  estheCcs  
merge.”   InstallaCon  view  of  “9  at  Leo  Castelli,”  1968  

Barbara  Rose,  1969