The Death of Art:
Today, the art world is dominated by contemporary art. Many art historians agree that this art movement started in the late 1960s. Because of the many subgenres that contemporary art includes, e.g., conceptual art, minimalism, photorealism, some philosophers have tried to define what contemporary art is. David Carrier, in his essay Danto and His Critics: After the End of Art, analysed some key concepts of Danto and his followers. Here is a list in chronological order of the essays that he mentioned. This list might give us a sense of what defines contemporary art.
In 1961, Ernst H. Gombrich wrote Art and Illusion. Gombrich traced the history of naturalistic art and, by concluding that turning away from representation towards a more expressive art, he suggested that this figurative tradition would come to an end.
In 1964, Arthur C. Danto, a philosopher and art critic, wrote an essay, The Artworld, inspired by The Brillo Box. Danto argued that any object can be theorised and therefore become an artwork, hence The Brillo Box, a banal object—a soap pad—that became an artwork because it was displayed in a gallery. Andy Warhol’s sculpture was the stepping stone of a new area, and he referred to it in his other essays. Also, The Artworld inspired other philosophers such as George Dickie; his followers spawned a whole school of analysis that became the Institutional Theory of Art.
In 1981, The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, written by Danto, was an essay about the very nature of art. Danto offered a theory of the identity of artworks. Art was no longer about representation as a form of expression; therefore, art became something else. Art had to be interpreted, and only through purely logical analysis. For instance, The Brillo Box (1964) was an artwork because it exemplified a theory of what art was. This is also the first essay that was directed not just to philosophers but also to an art-world audience.
In 1996, in After the End of Art, Danto aimed to offer a universal account of art, not based on time or culture. He also acknowledged something that changed the definition of art for many art historians: since The Brillo Box, Danto claimed that we lived in a post-historical era. The end of art’s history meant that art could no longer develop; therefore, now all things were possible. Danto wrote this book in reflection of the New York art scene, where everything that could be painted or sculpted had already appeared; the news was only a recombination of what had been done before.
Therefore, if we were living in a post-historical era, how could we define art? Danto argued that we can describe the very nature of art with the proper knowledge of its history, which for him includes the artist’s intentions and interpretations. The interpretation, however, cannot be an open-ended process, and artworks have an identity because they have been put into context.
Also, because of a multitude of subgenres, styles, or confusion that occurred in the ’80s, some theorists thought that good art should be defined based on decisions made by authorities within the art world. Finally, in contrast to Gustave Crimp’s influential essay On the Museum’s Ruins (1993), which claimed that continuing to paint is politically reactionary, Danto did not express any general view about the quality of contemporary art nor did he try to influence it by defining 'good' or 'bad' art.
Art with a Purpose, an Intention:
Clive, in his book, argues that there are two kinds of artistic research: (1) Artistic research that carries on a legacy of art-making by creating art that ‘benefits’ and ‘expands’ art; (2) Artistic research that showcases the essence of knowledge—the ‘poetry of the performative nature of knowledge.’ For him, artistic research is an opportunity to ‘investigate’ or ‘experiment’ with the essence of knowledge. However, according to Clive, there exists a plurality of knowledge. Therefore, research is an opportunity to bring together this plural knowledge by giving birth to new ‘facts’ or ‘theories’; also, knowledge is an opportunity for problem solving—the ‘practical application of knowledge to specific problems or circumstances.’
He also explains the notion of experience as a form of knowledge and paradigms, with experience as a ‘domain in its own right.’ Artistic research is then a ‘network’ of concepts. For Clive, a concept means to ‘grasp’, to ‘understand’; therefore, it represents an opportunity for explaining to others what should be ‘grasped’ and what can be understood. He gives the example of a sculpture: if that sculpture is a ‘network of traces’, then ‘each mark becomes a text.’ Furthermore, an artwork showcases certain elements that ‘talk’ in ‘interpretation-specific terms’. This means a specific sideways articulation of different systems (concepts, language) in an artwork.
Also, the way we investigate these materials offers a multitude of ‘effects’ and therefore multitudes of ‘significations’ and ‘metaphors.’ An artwork is ‘a thing’ that has concealed the history of its production. Clive also emphasises the importance of writing—writing to contextualise the research but also to describe the artefact. According to Clive, there are two ways to describe an artefact: (1) in a ‘factual’ (literal) way or (2) in a ‘determinable’ (constructed) way, and he specifies this is in terms of ‘measurability’ or ‘verifiability’ properties and aesthetics.
A description of an artwork should be precise; ‘measurability’ or ‘verifiability’ seem to me like biological jargon, scientific technical terms. I might be right because he says, ‘it is precisely because you have to choose the next words to describe the artwork that confirms the importance of description for artistic research.’ He stresses the importance of describing because new concepts will emerge and therefore new possibilities of interpretation and directions for research.
Clive also says that materials are ‘vehicles’ for self-exploration or a way to create certain ‘effects’ that later could be interpreted as metaphors.
The Taste of Tree? is an artistic research project by Deborah Harty and Phil Sawdon; it is a good example of artistic research. They base their research on Cézanne’s quote: is it possible "to paint the smell of trees?" In response, they questioned whether it would be possible to draw the taste of a tree.
Their theory could be summarised as follows:
(1) Layering a network of relations: e.g., object depicted (tree), technologies (paint, canvas, brushes), inter-subjective experience of environment (mountainside and gallery). This layering network of relations is the source of ‘synaesthesia’ and ‘phenomenology’, which are data that could be analysed.
(2) By the following: ‘introduction’, ‘context’, ‘approach’, ‘process’, and ‘summary’.
(3) The research progresses by a method of play as ‘perversion’ or ‘distortion’. ‘A "meaningful play" is a process of drawing that commences through openness and responsiveness to discovery and willingness to "play with marks, media and concepts." By perverting the original starting point, the new form or appearance created by these ‘perversions’ is where discoveries might lie.’ For example, ‘data from production of drawings of a tree and text-drawing on the memory of trees, then the two sets of data are layered together to create a series of images, which represent a multi-sensory perceptual drawing of the experience.
Clive uses Deborah Harty and Phil Sawdon’s artistic research project to showcase what, in his opinion, is a good research-based practice. Although I like the principle and structure of their practice, I find their outcomes disappointing and cliché. I was surprised to see that the collaboration was actually fairly recent, as I had assumed the artistic research dated from the ’80s or ’90s, since their preferred working methods felt outdated—for example, drawing, layering text/prose, and video recording.
There are other methods I am not open to experimenting with: self-portrait, collage, painting on top of an image, video over a drawing, recording a performance, designing a product for the art market. My reluctance to try these methods stems from the fact that many well-known artists have already explored them extensively in Fine Art. To be truly contemporary means that the methods and mediums used should be coherent and relevant to our time. The digital revolution has already happened—e.g., Virtual Reality, computer-generated images, artificial intelligence. Therefore, using old-fashioned methods feels reactionary.
Pleasant Places --- Process Breakdown from Quayola on Vimeo.
I wanted to showcase an artist who uses 3D technology to create art. Quayola is an Italian artist working with 3D scanning, morphing effects, 3D printing, and video installations. Although his artworks feel purposefully designed for strong visual impact, it is clear that he has a solid understanding of Fine Art language. I am not aiming to compete with him, as producing CGI art is very expensive. Among my wide range of skills, CGI is the most demanding medium and feels the most current in terms of art history.
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