WAYS OF SEEING:GROSSMANN, COLOURFIELD & CEREAL BOX

REVIEW

“The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe…We never look at just one thing we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves. Our

vision is continually active, continually moving…” John Berger Ways of Seeing p.8-9

COLOURFIELD & CEREAL BOX REVIEW

“…the paintings were almost pre-conscious, and were, in a sense, over before my

normally vigilant, superego-activated sense of critique could awaken and encumber me with the possible adjustments, modifications,

additions, amendments, reworkings and decorative moments of refined aesthetic

despair I could bring to them.”Gary Michael Dault (artist & critic)

automatism- Physical activites (e.g., arm movements, writing, drawing, musical performance) that occur without the automatist's conscious control or knowledge. Also known as motor automatism.para-automatism near/close to automatism/subconscious control

COLOURFIELD & CEREAL BOX REVIEW

Someone once asked Dault how paintings completed in just one minute could have any substance. What was his response?

Cereal Box Series #51

Acrylic on boxboard

7.5"x7.5"

19.05cmx19.05cm

In art theory formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as colour, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content. In visual art, formalism is the concept that everything necessary in a work of art is contained within it. The context for the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, is considered to be of secondary importance. Formalism dominated modern art from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

Text from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formalism_%28art%29 viewed 6 Jan 2008

Post-Modern ElementsFORMALISM

COLOURFIELD & CEREAL BOX REVIEWName ‘Formalist’ qualities that … used in their artwork and explain how they are

demonstrated.

FORMALISM

…entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects and its medium (material e.g. paint). Formalism emphasizes compositional elements (of art) such as colour, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content.

Cereal Box Series #35Acrylic on boxboard

9"x6.5" 22.86cmx16.51cm

Mountains and Sea1952Oil on canvas7' 2 5/8" x 9' 9 1/4"

DAULT FRANKENTHALER

COLOURFIELD & CEREAL BOX REVIEW

When we look at a work of art, we are affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions concerning:

Beauty, Truth, Genius, Civilization, Form, Status, TasteWhich of these is the most important when

considering artwork? You might be able to think of a different one.

Cereal Box Series #38

Acrylic on boxboard

Magic Carpet, 1964Acrylic on Canvas

Amenable to Discipline (mixed media, 1998, 134.6 x 94 cm)

UNTITLED, 1999SIGMAR POLKE b. 1941

DAULT FRANKENTHALER GROSSMANN POLKE