Buchloh, Turner and Monet

When Greenberg wrote that “conventions not essential to the viability of a medium [must] be discarded as soon as they are recognized,” he meant that the modernism era was accompanied by particular rules that artists followed in their work. The major conventions were emphasized while the minor components that had no bearing on art were eliminated. The grid was one such convention that the Abstractionist valued greatly. According to Krauss, a grid communicates a specific fundamental law of knowledge: the division between the perpetual screen and the real world. (Krauss 57). As such, many neo-impressionists such as Signac, Seurat, Luce, and Cross had adopted the convention in their work of art. In the modern art, the grid appears in form of windows, with the panes expressed in terms of the window’s mullions. When expressed as transparent, the grid admits light into the picture. Furthermore, helps observers to see the focus of art as it acts as the multilevel representation.

The image on the right is an example of artwork in the modernism era. With the use of different colors, the artist includes a grid that portends the centripetal and centrifugal forces. It is, however, interesting to note that in the painting, the grid extends to infinity, the boundary imposed can only be considered by the viewer as arbitrary. This shows its intention to propel the viewers to acknowledge a world beyond the observed colors within the frame. In this particular image, the painting is overwhelmingly centrifugal, which can be observed through the vertical and horizontal grids that enforce a sense of fragmentation.

Color has also been considered an important convention in presenting an artwork. Morris indicates that color determines the quality of painting, and has been used in drawings by either eliminating or enervating the drawings to give color autonomy (225). It is considered the most optical element; due to its non-tactile, immaterial, non-containable, and optical nature, it adjusts and makes visible the physical aspects of art including shape mass, scale, and proportion. Greenberg lists various artists that have ensured that unnecessary conventions are eliminated from art to enhance their quality. He gives an example of Mark Tobey who became famous through his drawing that showcased dense tracery of thin black lines accompanied by warm and translucent colors. The effect of Tobey’s work was successful and pleasing even to Pollock who also created an oscillation between illusion and emphatic surface by use of colors.

According to Greenberg, artists like Turner and Monet have made it through the art industry because of use of color conventions (220). For Turner, his breakthrough was evident when he bunched the value of light and dark. He provided an illumination of light end color scale, and adhered to the tones of shading and shadow. The same had applied to Monet; his late paintings contained descent colors that pleased the taste of viewers (Greenberg 221). In the images shown on the slide, the image on the right indicates the modern era in which colors were considered important conventions. The artist has added different colors including white, orange, blue, and red for visual appeal. The artist has ensured that the colors bring out the shape of the objects within the painting, thus, enhancing the meaning.

Question 2

Buchloh argues that the relationship between the historical avant-garde and the neo-avant-garde is the model of repetition and transformation that the latter exhibits from the former. To defend this, the author considers the recurrent act of imitation of the historic avant-garde by the neo-avant-garde which is explained by the Freudian model (Buchloh 43). It is evident that neo-avant-garde ensured that the historical meaning and authenticity of the former is maintained; this can be explained by the consistency in the use of monochrome. According to Buchloh, monochrome in painting had existed in the modern era; however, the introduction of neo-avant-garde expanded the concept to fit the secular culture (44). An example to illustrate is the work of Malevich who had introduced monochrome between 1915 and 1919. This later resurfaced in the 1920s when full monochrome was discovered in which all “figure-ground and chromatic relationships” had been eliminated.

Buchloh explores the concept of repetition through the work of Rodchenko. The artist has introduced the use of Pure Colors in 1921 by the use of Red, Yellow, and Blue colors. He liberated the colors from emotional, spiritual, and psychological perspectives, accompanying the work with musical chords, and transcendental meaning (Buchloh 45). This was an evidence of continuity of the avant-garde concepts, although there was an abandonment of conventional color attributes (that was favored in the traditional era) for ”materiality” of colors (Buchloh 48). To explain his work, Rodchenko stated that he had reduced his painting into the three canvases for easy identification of the primary colors. In addition, the work also imitated the use of model to explore art; the painting considered the scientific model of empirio-criticism which assigns colors roles in the aesthetic practice, thus, eliminating the traditional transparence and in turn inviting different, wider audiences.

An evidence of the repetition relationship between the two avant-gardes is the art work of Yves Klein. The artist adopted monochrome painting in his Parisian art which he invented even before meeting Malevich who was the known avant-garde artist. He had never had any contact with the past artists when he introduced monochrome in his work, nor did he observe search paintings that utilize the traditional techniques. This means that the artists of the later generation did not copy the past artists, but rather rediscovered a strategy that is similar to the previously existing artwork mechanisms. Thus, Buchloh affirms that the enthusiastic neo-avant-garde artists such as Fontana, Kelly, and Rauschenberg coincidentally utilized the avant-garde paradigms through their own evolutionary dynamics (52).

In the paintings presented, one can deduce the repetitive structure of a neo-avant-garde (on the right) through its similar formal, chromatic, and structural elements to the avant-garde paintings (on the left). Both paintings constitute the use of single colors; the left painting has a pure blue color while the right painting has yellow, orange, and blue colors. The left painting, however, has a rough texture, with no adherence to margin format; this represents the traditional avant-garde. The right image exhibits the usage of smooth, refined texture that is more abstract. Further, the colors have clearly defined margins that shows improvement from the left painting. The similarities in the structure, form, and chromatic elements of the images indicate repetition of art mechanisms. However, it is clear that the latter, neo-avant-garde seems more refined to fit the contemporary context.

Question 3

Repetition is an important element of art as it enhances the experience of the viewer as well as showcases the artist’s thematic concern and temperament. Different elements are used to create repetition including shape, and color or visual motif. Repetition can also be created through the regular use of line of a particular object in the art. One key reason for using repetition in an artwork is to create visual unity; by repeating the same shape on a single piece of work, an artist is able to tie individual elements together (Buchloh 45). Additionally, is assists in the viewing of an object, especially when the drawing is done on a canvass. Different artists have used repetitions for varying reasons; in his work, Andy Warhol explained that the aspect of repetition would explain the extent of mass production in the society. Similarly, Gerald Cournoyer prefers using repetition for the purpose of imposing a trance-like experience on the viewer.

The two images reflect the role of repetition in art. The first image (on the left) has repetition of similar faces including visibility, color, size, and form. This enhances the meaning of the art and emphasis of the theme. In contrast, the image on the right appear to be blurred; the pattern are different in terms of form, size, color and visibility. Some of the objects in the image are invisible while others appear blurred; this interferes with the emphasis of the content. The images also reveal the significance of color; on the left image, the use of blue, yellow, orange, and pink colors enhances the visibility of the objects. However, the images of the left are unclear due to the blurred black and white colors used.

The art of subjectivity has been used majorly by artists of the modern era including Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko who had made the initiative of reimagining oneself and expressing the idea of self in the art. These authors expressed themselves onto the canvass, their imaginations, dreams, and fantasies which could be interpreted by the viewers. In a study done by Leja Michael, the author argues that most of artists of the expressionist movements developed interest in tapping their unconscious and primitive components of self through art. Considering the work of Pollock, the author argues that the artist utilized various metaphors including energy flow, conflicted productions gendered opposition, spatial entrapment, and unconsciousness in the paintings to reveal various cultural and individual ideologies. Abstract Expressionism had significantly embraced the use of subjectivity to account for the interest and support of the political and cultural institutions.

Subjectivity can be observed in the second image (on the right). From an observer’s point of view, one would suggest that the painting is absolutely personal and private; it shows an art that has no vision for the observer or the person that will analyze it. Without focus on form or color, it is evident that the artists is pouring his inner feelings, which enhances meditation among the viewers. The first image indicates an objective art; the artists has painted real objects which is the representation of a female face. He has further included ornamental objects (earrings) as well as the clothes. As such, it is inspired through imagination and previous experience of the object.

Works Cited

Buchloh, Benjamin HD. ”The primary colors for the second time: a paradigm repetition of the neo-avant-garde.“ October, 1986, pp. 41-52.

Greenberg, Clement. ”15’American-Type’Painting.“ Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology, no. 22.2, 1982, p. 93.

Krauss, Rosalind. ”Grids.“ October 9, 1979, pp. 51-64.

Morris, Robert. ”Notes on sculpture“.1966.