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The term Minimalist is often applied colloquially to designate or suggest anything which is spare or stripped to its absolute essentials. It has its origins with an art critic seeking to describe what he saw, but has also been used to describe such perse genres as plays by authors such as Samuel Beckett, films by director Robert Bresson (the narratives of Raymond Carver), the simple musical works of composer Philip Glass (the art installations of Sol LeWitt), the German Bauhaus art movement and even the cars designed by Colin Chapman and the educational principles of John Carroll among others. This paper considers why understanding of the concept is not only necessary but also useful. The principle of Minimalism is proposed as being a useful theoretical tool which supports a more differentiated understanding of reduction, and thus creates a standpoint that allows the definition of simplicity in its various aspects.50676
Key words: Minimalist, simplicity, theoritical tool.
INTRODUCTION
In New Media Arts, Minimalism is a way of expressing an idea and is an inescapable theme in modern day social concerns as well as art. As its name suggests, Minimalism means using limited material to create a desired effect. A minimalist artist will typically use a limited paletteof colors and have a simplified geometric design, as in the works of David Smith, which can be seen at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City. Minimalist sculpture on the other hand is greatly focused on the materials. While many claim that Minimalism is a movement specific to geometric representations, it extends in the modern day far outside this relatively narrow constraint. The influences of Minimalism are deep and meaningful. Aristotle’s “Horror Vacui” states that empty space would always be trying to suck in gas or liquids to avoid being empty. More recently, Donald Judd said:
“It is not necessary for a work to have lots of things to look at, to compare, to analyze, one by one, and to contemplate. The thing as a whole, and its qualities as a whole is what is interesting.”
What philosophical and social implications does
Minimalism have in the twenty-first century? It would be necessary to see where it originates. The term itself, now common parlance, first appeared in the New York of 1929 when David Burlyuk used it in a catalogue for an exhibition at the Dudensing Gallery of John Graham’s paintings as described on the Worldwide Art Resources web page Art History: Minimalism (1960 to 1975), but was largely unheard outside the small world of art and design circles until the late 20th century. Even today, its definition is difficult as it covers such perse genres.
Minimalism still exists despite the fact that it is pronounced dead from time to time. Kyle Gann in 1998 for instance declared that the term, as far as music was concerned was confined to a particular American group of composers and that critics declared the movement to be dead by 1978. Gann explains how the minimalist being a dumbing down of music for a public incapable of
understanding anything more complicated.
Minimalism is not only recognizable but visible on many fronts. The style once considered to be subversive has over time become acceptable, in part because it is so widespread in society at all levels. The word has become part of the modern day lingua franca, as mass culture has taken as its own what was once dismissed and seen only as a target for ridicule, from the repetition of ‘broken-record8 J. Studio Fine Artmusic’ (Burckholder, 2006) to the bald simplicity of monochrome canvasses by artists, such as David Smith,and monolithic sculptures, such as ‘Accession II’ by minimalist sculptor Eva Hesse.
Minimalism had widened its influence with the Bauhaus architecture, design, fine arts and craft movement in Germany in the nineteen twenties. It also spread to rock music as early as the mid-sixties when Young’s drones were transmitted via John Cale and others to the Velvet Underground, and from there to the punk generation and their belatedly fashionable nihilism as described by Strickland in 2000. However, Brian Eno and Philip Glass carried the concept in a developing sub-genre of new age music in the seventies.“Make it pure and simple” – this brief sentence could have served as the motto for Minimalism, an art movement that really began in the 1960s, although there were some earlier manifestations. The movement has been variously described as minimalist and ABC art (Strickland, 2000). The concept behind the movement was propounded by the critic, Clement Greenberg, who had a powerful influence over many of the artists and designers of his era. As early as 1939, although he does not use the term ‘Minimalism’ he stated, when describing modern abstract art: