Abstract
Jan 2011
Royal British Society of Sculptors, London
Group show curated by Sandy Wood
RBS provided an online downloadable catalogue which was subsequently printed with commissioned texts
Curators talk
Extract from Sandy Wood's Material Rites catalogue Foreword:
"...Thinking about artworks from a material perspective - what they are made of and how the artists have adapted them to suit a new context - always fascinates me. Artistic interventions can be subtle or 'in your face' but the materials always mutate in some way. Non-traditional materials are creatively manipulated just like painters manipulate paint, but the dynamics of conceptual innovation and the semiotics of material, not form, are amplified.
The interpretation of art has predominantly been preoccupied with the criticism of form. Although art in non-traditional materials has been developing since Duchamp renounced 'retinal art' in 1912, the critical analysis of materials has largely focused on technical concerns. This position seems anachronistic today as the category of material meanings has played an intrinsic role in the evolution of art over the past century. Since the anarchic play of Dada, Surrealist object games and the conceptual challenges presented by Duchamp's 'readymades', material statements have grown to envelop Western art. The arguments made by 20th Century movements such as Minimalism, Arte Povera, Conceptualism, Fluxus and Pop Art were transmitted through material (or immaterial) experimentation, allowing art to flourish in its current plethora of configurations.
'Material Rites' is a platform for examining the overlooked area of materiality in contemporary sculptural practice, to introduce a different interpretive element for audiences and establish new connections between artists and the works..."
Royal British Society of Sculptors, London
Group show curated by Sandy Wood
RBS provided an online downloadable catalogue which was subsequently printed with commissioned texts
Curators talk
Extract from Sandy Wood's Material Rites catalogue Foreword:
"...Thinking about artworks from a material perspective - what they are made of and how the artists have adapted them to suit a new context - always fascinates me. Artistic interventions can be subtle or 'in your face' but the materials always mutate in some way. Non-traditional materials are creatively manipulated just like painters manipulate paint, but the dynamics of conceptual innovation and the semiotics of material, not form, are amplified.
The interpretation of art has predominantly been preoccupied with the criticism of form. Although art in non-traditional materials has been developing since Duchamp renounced 'retinal art' in 1912, the critical analysis of materials has largely focused on technical concerns. This position seems anachronistic today as the category of material meanings has played an intrinsic role in the evolution of art over the past century. Since the anarchic play of Dada, Surrealist object games and the conceptual challenges presented by Duchamp's 'readymades', material statements have grown to envelop Western art. The arguments made by 20th Century movements such as Minimalism, Arte Povera, Conceptualism, Fluxus and Pop Art were transmitted through material (or immaterial) experimentation, allowing art to flourish in its current plethora of configurations.
'Material Rites' is a platform for examining the overlooked area of materiality in contemporary sculptural practice, to introduce a different interpretive element for audiences and establish new connections between artists and the works..."
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Sandy Wood (Curator) |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2011 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- cast iron
- collaborative practice
- sculpture
- installation
- object