Preliminary sketches at MOMA:
The work that I chose to respond to Was Robert Ryman’s plain white canvas.
Full Project Proposal:
DRAWING FROM PERVERSITY PROJECT PROPOSAL:
Minimum two pages typed and printed for submission.
BACKGROUND:
1)a)Who am I responding to at the MOMA?
I am responding to Robert Ryman’s work. His piece in The Long Run was a square panel comprised of what looked like plexiglass, aluminium and wood painted white with minimal texture, possibly created my plaster or enamel, and aluminum framing the corners.
b)Why am I responding negatively? (one paragraph at least)
My first thought when I saw this plain, white, square, canvas on the wall in MOMA was that I had seen it in almost every other art museum I had been in. Minimalist art has always been something that I struggle to fully appreciate. While I often find minimalist paintings aesthetically pleasing, I rarely have any type of emotional response to them and I almost never find myself being impressed by the artist’s work. The reason for this is that I don’t believe that minimalist art gives the viewer enough to react to. Minimalism deals largely with material and surface. The result is that works created in this genre tend to be very surface level, lacking in emotional or thematic narrative. My personal work is all about visual storytelling; my idea of good art creates an environment, character, or situation for the viewer to react to or identify with.
c)Describe relevant information about your chosen artist whether about process, biography and possibly currentpress*.(two paragraphs minimum)
Robert Ryman is an American painter. His work follows the themes of minimalism and conceptual art. Like most minimalists, Ryman focuses on material and surface rather than narrative.Most of his paintings are monochromatic, either black or white, and done in a square or rectangular format. He explores surfaces such as plastic, aluminum, woods, and glass. The value of his work comes from his manipulation of paint, surface, and light, rather than narrative. “I am not a picture painter. I work with real light and space” (Ryman). Ryman removes narrative from his work by omitting content, figure and color, and instead focuses solely of form and process.
Minimalism is a movement that values the physicality of materials and surface. I fully consider minimalism to be a valid and insightful movement. However, the movement is one that is relatively unchanged since its western inception in the 1950s. Personally, I find value in the early stages of this movement; I admire the artists who began working in this way when nobody else was…when it was a new idea. My scepticism of Robert Rymans work comes from the fact that he is a current artist, and these ideas of surface and materiality have already been explored by many before him. I don’t think that his work is substantial or innovative enough to be at a museum like the MOMA.
MY PROJECT:
1) A)What will I do?
B)How does my project respond to the artist I chose?
- C) Why is this project important to myself and others?
D)What larger themes am I addressing?
For my response piece to Robert Ryman’s work, I want to explore the same themes of surface and material, however, I want to do this without sacrificing narrative. Where as Ryman bring attention to surface and light by subtracting color and figure, I want to attempt to create a dialogue between these four elements in order to produce a piece that triggers the awe that was lacking when I saw Robert Ryman’s piece in MOMA. While Robert Ryman created an empty canvas, I want to create a full one. I want this piece to be an etching with some multimedia elements as well. I will pay special attention to surface, light, color, and narrative in order to create a piece that cohesively addresses all four of these elements. Primarily, this my very full reactive to Ryman’s very empty work. This is an important response for me because I want to prove that an artist does not have to sacrifice one theme in order to speak about another. The goal of an artist is to find the platform which allows them to speak about whatever qualities and themes they desire; their specific set of visual motifs and the chosen platform are what make up that artist specific vision and signature.
MATERIALS:
Printmaking paper (possibly colored)
Ink (possibly colored)
Copper plate (square if I can get it)
Assorted multimedia materials (paint, paper, embroidery floss, etc.)
FORMAT:
2D print/multimedia piece. Preferable hung on a wall for display
TIMELINE: I am going to be working on this piece Monday afternoons, and Thursday mornings until it is due!
Finished Piece:
For my finished project I took a character from nature, the dragon fly, and exposed or brought attention to the beautiful texture of its wings. Like Ryman, my primary focus was texture, but I work in my own method that included narrative and payed homage to nature.
I improvised and used zinc plates instead of copper. I am really glad I did this because it was much easier to get delicate, clean lines.
