Black and White With Pop of Red Minimalist Art

Minimalism as a genre occupies various forms of expression across art, design, music, and literature. Developed in the Usa in the 1960s, it surfaced equally a reaction to Abstract Expressionism. Minimalist artists sought to move away from the expressive characteristics of Abstract Expressionism equally they felt those works to be as well excessive and emotional, and that they detracted from the essence of art itself. Minimalist artists, in complete contrast, were composed of simple lines and forms. All the elements of expression, biography, complex subjects, and social agendas are removed, leaving viewers to translate their works for what they are - a purified class of beauty and truth.

Due to such a stiff focus on basic elements, Minimalist Art was and is known every bit ABC Art. Many of the most prominent Minimalist artists were sculptors, and Minimalism also grew to transpire across other genres such equally Land Art, where artworks are made in landscapes, creating sculptures on and from the earth. Minimalism also constituted the light and space motion, with many Minimalist artists finding their do at its interstice.

Many have argued that Minimalism has its roots in Asia with many Western artists such as Agnes Martin taking on influences of Zen Buddhism in their practice. Many Minimalist artists were too influenced by the notion of 'nothingness' derived from Hindu scriptures. I of the biggest Minimalist movements in Asia was Mono-ha, Japan's beginning internationally acknowledged movement in gimmicky art. Mono-ha, or 'School of Things', was a pioneering fine art movement initiated in Tokyo in the mid-1960s. Led by artists Lee Ufan and Nobuo Sekine, the Mono-ha group was ane of many groups engaged in 'not making'. These groups rejected traditional ideas of representation so equally to reveal the world through engaging with materials and their properties, as in like style with that of Western Minimalism.

The Artling brings you the nearly famous Minimalist artworks that underline the genre of Minimalism, including paintings and sculptures that that broke down traditional notions of art every bit they blurred the distinctions between the two.

Frank Stella, Die Fahne Hoch! (1959)

Frank Stella, Whitney Museum, Gansevoort Street, New York City. Image courtesy of John St John.

A painter, sculptor, and printmaker, Frank Stella is considered to be i of the about influential living American artists. His striped works and monumental prints revolutionized creative practices in relation to not only Minimalism only also Abstraction. Whilst he cites abstract artists such as Pollock and Kline as his influences, he grew to become one of the founding fathers of Minimalism.

'Die Fahne Hoch!' Was named after the official marching song of the Nazis, but appears to be meaningless with the exception of its title. It is i a work within a larger series of black paintings past Stella. In this painting, the lighter lines are in fact raw sail that was left blank between its wide black stripes. This monochromatic work is one of the best-known works to claiming the Abstract Expressionist movement.

Robert Morris, Untitled (mirrored cubes) (1965/71)

Robert Morris, Untitled (mirrored cubes) (1965/71). Paradigm courtesy of the Tate.

'Untitled (mirrored cubes)' not only exemplified Robert Morris as a Minimalist artist, only as well a Conceptual 1. Morris was performing at a ballet company when he came across large grayness painted plywood boxes equally stage props. Taking them to his exercise, he covered these boxes in mirrors, advancing their visual properties and altering the modes of perception that surrounded them. Walking around these boxes, viewers are forced to confront themselves in their reflections. Suddenly, the human action of admiring an artwork is cut past the human activity of looking. It has been cited to "invade" a gallery space due to this nature, evolving the experience of fine art beyond the visual.

Agnes Martin, With my Dorsum to the World (1997)

Agnes Martin, With my Back to the Earth serial (1997)

Agnes Martin fabricated works that were not-representational, yet their titles highlighted a strong attraction to nature. Martin was known for the grid work in her paintings that blend together Minimalism and Colour Field. She used these grids as an organizational element to her works, creating infinite variations of calming canvases with subtle colors.

Thoroughly influenced by Zen Buddism and Taoism, Martin as well led a hermetic lifestyle in New Mexico for most of her life. She was as well diagnosed with schizophrenia in her 40s. 'With my Back to the World' was made in her mid-80s while she lived in an assisted living facility. Her pastel bands of blue, peach and yellow continued to highlight how fine art was sectional of the decadent outside world, as she reduced her the sizes of her canvases to handle them with more than ease.

Ellsworth Kelly, Red Yellow Blue II (1953)

Ellsworth Kelly, Red Yellow Blueish Ii (1953). Paradigm courtesy of the Art Establish of Chicago.

Having served in the second World War, Ellsworth Kelly took his observations of nature and architectural forms to mature his practice in experimental ways. Through a rigorous study of abstraction, his paintings and sculptures went on to develop Minimalism as a whole. The 'Ruddy Yellow Bluish' serial affected the course of color-field painting and was created as Kelly began to "uncover the most space possibilities of monochrome, color spectrum, chance ordering, and multi-console composition."

'Ruddy Yellow Blue II' is composed of seven panels, with a black panel in the center the divides yet joins the three panels on its either side. 2 blue panels unify the sequence on both ends, underlining Kelly's understanding of composition. This painting is the largest out of the works he made during his time in Paris and is considered to be i of his finest and most influential works on sheet.

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawings

Sol LeWitt – Wall Drawing #260 at San Francisco Museum of Art, 1975

Sol LeWitt – Wall Drawing #340, July 1980

Sol LeWitt – Wall Drawing #1138: Forms composed of bands of color, 2004, Acrylic paint, Lisson Gallery, London

Sol LeWitt created one,350 wall drawings beyond the 4 decades of his career, comprising roughly iii,500 installations at over ane,200 venues. These drawings were anything from straight lines in blackness pencil lead, to colorful wavy rendered lines, to monochromatic geometric forms, to bright panels in acrylic paint. He allowed others to help him execute these works equally he, in line with notions of Minimalism, rejected the traditional importance of an artist'southward own mitt. His Wall Drawings were explorations into architecture and art, equally they took on the forms of respective spaces that they were made in.

Although Lewitt passed away in 2007, his works live on every bit a outcome of his artistic ethos. These days, a handful of artists exist who withhold the correct to recreate his Wall Drawings assuasive them to adorn the walls of institutions around the world.

Judy Chicago, Rainbow Pickett (1965)

Judy Chicago, installation view of Rainbow Pickett (background) and Trinity (foreground). Image courtesy of the artist.

Created for her first solo testify at the Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles in January 1966, Rainbow Pickett is a room-sized sculptural installation composed of six trapezoids of dissimilar colors and lengths. This work was likewise shown at the foundational exhibition, 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum, where critic Clement Greenberg stated that it was 1 of the all-time works in the infinite. Information technology was reconstructed in 2004 every bit the original 'Rainbow Pickett' was destroyed past Chicago due to hefty storage costs, later condign the hallmark piece for LAMOCA'due south 'A Minimal Future? Art as Object, 1958-1968'.

Past creating works that exam the limits of color through her cocky-designed diagrams and spatial patterning, Judy Chicago grew to be known as a pioneering Minimal and Feminist creative person.

Dan Flavin, Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3 (1977)

Dan Flavin, Untitled (in laurels of Harold Joachim) 3 (1977). Image courtesy of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

'Untitled (in laurels of Harold Joachim) 3' is one of many works made past Dan Flavin equanimous of fluorescent light and metal fixtures. For over three decades, Flavin explored the artistic possibilities of fluorescent light, limiting his practice to commercially available materials. Rejecting the aforementioned notions of Abstruse Expressionism, he took to using such hardware and inserted them into the world of high art. Incredibly straightforward, this work too embodies a deep sophistication.

Flavin'due south light works launder walls with colors and become beyond the space they inhabit. They likewise go across their sculptural entity to bathe visitors in warm and artificial glows, creating experiences around them.

Eva Hesse, Untitled (Rope Slice) (1970)

Eva Hesse, Untitled (Rope Slice) (1970). Epitome courtesy of Columbia Academy.

A German-born American sculptor, Eva Hesse is all-time-known for her pioneering work in latex, fiberglass, and plastic. She is also known as ane of the artists who ushered in the mail service-minimal art movements in the 1960s. In the spirit of Minimalism, Hesse'south exercise explored how the simplest of materials could be used to exemplify much more.

'Untitled (Rope Piece)' was fabricated in 1970 as Hesse was dying, equally was finished with the assistance of her friends. Made with latex over rope, string, and wire, it mimics a tangled drawing in infinite, suspended from the ceiling. Standing out from the traditional neatness of Minimalism, it is through its modes of composition that allows it to be perceived inside the genre.

Donald Judd, Untitled (1980)

Donald Judd, Untitled (1980). Image courtesy of the Tate.

Donald Judd strongly disavows his clan with Minimalism, yet is known equally one of its founding fathers. He abased his do as a painter for sculpture in the early 1960s and went on to uncover a personal rejection of European artistic values. He began fabricating works that could not be classified every bit painting or sculpture. Like Ellsworth Kelly, Judy Chicago, Sol Lewitt, and Dan Flavin, his works were exhibited at the seminal 1966 showroom 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum in New York.

In the 1980s, Judd began creating vertically suspended stacks such as 'Untitled (1980). These works, still unable to exist classified equally painting or sculpture, created a new vocabulary of fine art due to their experiential nature. Using ii different materials, aluminum and Plexiglass, this piece of work offers viewers ii conflicting experiences - opaque intrusive forms from the side, and obscure depths of infinite from the forepart.

Now that you're here, why not check out these Minimal artworks by Asian contemporary artists? If you would like to learn more than about the Minimalism, do read our Minimalism 101 - A Guide to Minimalist Art.

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Any views or opinions in the postal service are solely those of the authors and exercise not necessarily represent the views of the company or contributors.

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