Art 308 Sculpture Studio Portfolio

Molly Burtenshaw

Project 1- Process
ANALYSIS

The idea of "process" oriented artwork seems almost redundant in that every piece of art requires a process of some kind in order to come to fruition. In fact, process is involved in everything a person does in their life. Thus, the problems in defining process oriented artwork revolve around determining when a process becomes an artwork, and when an artwork evolves beyond expressing its process.

Artists such as Richard Serra and Jackie Winsor lie at the former end of the spectrum. Their entire work is about the action involved in producing it. The pieces they end up with are just a byproduct of what processes were required in their formation. In fact, many times there is no product at all, as in Serra's Hands Catching Lead. What categorizes this as artwork instead of any other productive action is the artist's intention. In Serra's case the aim is not to create anything at all but to just put objects in motion and let them be what they will.

The artists I examined both involved much more personal decision making in their works, but still managed to forefront process through their materials and presentation. Ann Hamilton's personal viewpoints color and morph her work into the engaging and interactive places they become, but the process of her work is never lost because it never ceases. She makes sure each and every viewer is aware of how her work was made by having them watch it as it is built by a performer. These kinds of instillations also merge into categories of interaction and place, but process is imperative to the work. Donovan's works fall in a completely different category of material studies. Her processes are simple, as she attempts to not impose her own will on objects but to let them grow into their own organisms. Thus, the process is in the material itself and the way it is able to morph into various other forms, as well as the extensive time involved by artists in helping such materials along to this goal.

Process in an artwork is everything and anything that goes into its creation and cannot be prescribed to a particular mode of creation. Each artist has their own particular process, but whether a work is process-oriented or not depends on how the artist chooses to expose or hide the efforts that created their piece. The process can never be eliminated from a work, as it is seen in the brush strokes or chip marks, but it can be hidden to the point where the final object is the only impression left.