Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 1: Process
ANALYSIS

Analyzing Process Art

Process art is broadly defined as art that does not focus on the end product, but on construction, and within process art there are many categories which can be included in this definition. Artist process can mean different things to one artist than to another, based on their own interpretation. An example of this is that some artists in this field believe that the best idea to represent process is the physical action of the creation, while others believe it is about the labor you put into the piece involving the materials and the motivation behind the piece. Two process artists, Richard Serra and Jackie Winsor, are considered to be members in the same artistic movement, even though they both have a different style and concept of process art.

Richard Serra was an artist who wanted to take the whole idea of process art literally and focus only on the making of the piece. For example, in "lead corner" he took melted lead and cast the corner of his studio over and over again. To him, there was no meaning behind the work or any visual intent.  All he wanted to express was using the raw material in this way to create a form. The physical action is something Serra talks about as well.  An example of this artist trying to articulate his ideas about the "action" is the "Verb List" that he created. In this list he wrote all the ways an object, material or subject can be altered through actions. By using raw materials and only thinking about actions, Serra's idea of process art is narrowed down to a basic, essential foundation.

Unlike Serra, Jackie Winsor's impression of process art would fall into another category - labor intensive. Also, Winsor thinks a great deal about her process art - it is not just about the action or the doing, but there is intent and motivation behind her works as well.  She believes what makes her process art have value is the time and labor behind the piece. Winsor states that she likes to work alone on projects to put more emphasis on this idea, to create and put "energy" into the piece. Like Serra, she does believe the physical action makes a piece but what gives it value is time spent on its creation, not the creation itself. Winsor looks into deeper meaning behind some of her work, such as Burnt Piece, where she set a wooden box on fire to express a message about nature, that nature is uncontrollable. Both artists have the same basic foundation that fits them into the process movement but their interpretation of process art is different.