Project 1: Process
ARTIST RESEARCH

Justin Masterson

Dr. Scheer

Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse was a German born American sculptor who fled Nazi Germany and later went to school in New York City.  She created a variety of hung sculptures using a variety of materials.  She used impermanent materials such as rubber and even felt remorse when people wanted to buy her sculptures because she knew they would not last forever. This is connected to her idea that life nor art lasts which may have something to do with her experience as a child in Nazi Germany or her mother committing suicide.  Additionally,  her use of simple materials could be seen to some observers as depicting feminist values as well as sexual innuendo, different psychological moods, and organic ideas.

She was trained as an abstract painter during the time of abstract expressionism.  She yearned for complete originality and tried to make work that was from a sort of total other reference point.   My favorite of Eva Hesse’s work would be her untitled work which include the hanging of latex covered rope.  I think it creates a very interesting dimensionality and presence in whatever room it is displayed in.  This goes along with her intentions as an artist because every time this piece is displayed, it change’s a little or a lot depending on how it is erected.  It depended on who installed it as well.  This went along with the idea of trying to demystify the artist which Hesse went along with.  The piece also rejected neatness while at the same time maintaining a composition and aesthetic purpose.

Another of my favorites would have to be 2 in 1.  I believe this piece is sort of funny in a way because of it’s general erotic association.  I also believe oppositely that this piece is very moving.  With feminism just beginning to come out in art she helped progress and inspire other artists.  While she is trying to be associative in the manner she is presenting a piece of art that has a pretty immediate association.

Hesse’s subtly biographical work was ended way too quickly, ultimately ending as she was making some of her best work.  In some ways the impermanence of her work lent itself to her departure.  Hesse evoked process art in a way her artistic colleagues at the time were not.

bib

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artists/3893

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/untitled-rope-piece.html

https://docs.google.com/a/smcm.edu/viewer?a=v&q=cache:OImUq_7bdWIJ:cloud.hauserwirth.com/documents/y1ctXlJCqjk1Q3aKF0qZ1436rapbm40Mj5l59e6Jv456vnXepI/artforum-may-1970-1fGl6I.pdf+artforum+may+1970&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj7Om0ZR1Uw8mWLOzpQjqH4MmYfSdAdx1z3hPjHnyBXUKfeJLH03kJZpT6rb_pzpVXenTL_33QE6_wZ8Fu-LV84UsbNYaMfoDfcZTqTGwh_jwst_J9cATLny039U7dXH6FQf16Q&sig=AHIEtbRDzo038F7E-Vhlj9bFuv-cbVK57g&pli=1

Justin Masterson

Dr. Scheer

Richard Serra

Richard Serra, a minimalist sculptor of the process art movement, attacked abstract expressionism with material action and has created a very influential body of work over the years.  Following Jackson Pollock's death the 60’s was musing on new art ideas, Serra entered his own style through exploring action words such as in his verb list he created in 1967.  All of these action words lent themselves to the process of making art which is what Serra came to specialize in.  Casting Corners was an early abstract piece of his that used process of slinging hot lead at corners in order to create an abstract art form.  An important thing to note is Serra’s use of anti-idealistic materials, this choice in materials lends itself to both the process of making the art as well as rejecting the poetry of the abstract expressionist movement.

It is fair to say that Serra liked experimenting with dense or otherwise heavy materials.  Experimenting more with verbs such as lifting, stacking or catching in his work around the 70’s he moved towards a deeper understanding of weight and balance.  The ideas of weight and balance became a motif through Serra’s career.  Through the 70’s Serra explored prop peices leading to his famous 2-2-1 sculpture which cast lead supported itself without fasteners of any sort.  In 1987 Serra’s Fulcrum was erected. This 55 foot freestanding cor-ten steel stands taller than some buildings around London’s Liverpool Street Station.  Being a free standing sculpture it induces the fear that at any point for some reason or another it could come crashing down much like any of his other pieces.  

With Serra’s large standing public work such as his enormous metal hallways or really any of his larger work the viewer gets a sense of the object being undeniable in space.  Inside Out is a piece weighing around four hundred billion tons and is the only piece in the exhibit.  Serra uses the size and weight of the material to surround viewers in a labyrinth of metal where the viewer gets caught up in the material and their presence in the context of the room.  It would not be easy in any way to go through one of his sculptures.  Serra realizes his work declares space and this is his intention.  You can not view it from just one side because of it’s size and you can not easily pull it away from it’s context in your mind.  

bib

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/serra/

http://www.art21.org/artists/richard-serra

http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag02/oct02/serra/serra.shtml

http://blog.art21.org/2013/05/02/alchemy-richard-serras-early-work/#.U26soP38RKN