Justin Masterson /Advanced Sculpture, 2014 |
Project 1: Process |
| Justin Masterson Dr. Scheer Process Art Analysis Process Art focuses on the consecration of verb into a noun. The process artist focuses on the way a piece becomes what it is, not necessarily the final aesthetic product. An immediate application of this would be how Richard Serra threw lead at the corners of his studio and presented them across the floor. Other significant artists include Eva Hesse, Alan Sonfist,and Ana Mendieta. The artist explores the interaction of people, materials, and nature as a catalyst for artistic expression. Performance art can also be an expression of process as well. Rather than see the artist’s hand you see the actual artist outlining a particular process. Process artists can use the context of the space they are performing in to add effect to the process they are completing. Performance can directly depict the action taking place. As simple of an act as catching or as abstract as the act of inhabiting a space with a coyote. In these ways the performance process artist puts the process in the present similar to how a sculpture brings process to the present during the time of viewing and interpretation. In it’s beginning process art was a response to the abstract expressionist movement, conceptualized in Richard Serra’s verb list. Ignoring a sort of poetic approach to artistic creation and interpretation, Serra literally listed verbs and actions that could be done then later explored their application in art. For example, when he filmed himself catching lead or when he stacked large pieces of metal. Tara Donovan more recently in the 2000’s has explored with common materials similar to Eva Hesse. Her stacking and otherwise attaching of plastic and styrofoam cups together provides an interesting aesthetic which is coupled with the idea of the procedure that took place to arrive at the final piece. In that sense, process art can focus on one repeated action such as the work of Ai WeiWei. Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds in particular features a warehouse room floor full of handcrafted sunflower seeds executed in such a way that they mimic what they are meant to resemble. Process can directly serve the artist’s intention by describing one particular action. In this way it can give a more direct approach to arriving at some sort of conclusion as to what the work intends to accomplish; does it capture an action, does it make a statement about society, how does it’s creation pronounce the final product. |
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