Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999 Page: 45
60 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Tang
TURNER & RUNYON
DALLAS
by Suzanne Akhtar
Sometimes emerging artists pay homage to
established ones by appropriating elements
from older works and incorporating them into
their innovative styles as a way of paying
homage to their predecessors. In other
instances younger artists completely reject
what has gone before and create art that is
radically different.
A show at Turner & Runyon in Dallas
featuring minimalist art from the '60s by
Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and John
McCracken, along with the work of 8 younger
artists, offers an interesting variation on this
evolutionary theme. It displays the work of
two different generations of artists whose work
shares strong stylistic affinities with each
other, affirming that an artistic dialogue has
taken place. Yet, a close examination of these
pieces reveals that the ideas and the
messages-or lack thereof-behind these two
groups are very different.
Judd, Flavin and McCracken have
worked in a minimalist style since the '60s.
Judd was also one of this movement's primary
theoreticians. Minimalism can be described as
a reaction against the expressive, gestural qual-
ities of Abstract Expressionism of the '40s and
'50s and the illusory spatial qualities of
painting in general. Most minimalist artists
created 3D objects that were sparely geometric
and often composed of modular, repeating
parts made with machine-like precision, often
out of industrial materials. Minimalists denied
any kind of moral or social message in their
works. What you saw, was what you got. And
what you got mostly, were objects that invaded
or altered your physical space. What is also
interesting is that this approach, one that
seemed so shocking when it was first shown,
now has been completely absorbed into the
canon of art history and has a classic look.
Judd is famous for his stacks of
aluminum and Plexiglas boxes, one of which
from 1991, is in this show. Flavin transforms
space through the use of colored light. One of
his untitled red, and green fluorescent pieces
is on display. McCracken meticulously crafts
geometric pieces with polyester resin, fiber-
glass and plywood that are so perfect theylook machine-made. His Ranger, a
sleek red piece that looks like a long,
thick plank, straddles sculpture and
painting-it stands on the floor like a
sculpture and rests against the wall
like a painting.
Now, enter a group of artists
who were born around the time the
Minimalists were first making their
art. Many artists revisit their child-
hood as a source of art. In this case,
these younger artists have revisited the
minimalist aesthetic of spare geometry
and machine-like precision. Unlike
the Minimalists, however, these artists
have messages and meanings behind
their work. They comment on and critique a
contemporary society where humans seek and
need contact with one another in the face of a
technological culture that is dominated by
impersonal communication.
Liam Gillick created Discussion Island
Research Screen out of the same aluminum and
Plexiglas that Judd uses in many of his works.
It's a long, low geometric piece that rests
against a wall and juts out into the room. Like
many of Gillick's other sculptures, this shares
its sensibility with household constructions
like kitchen islands or bookcases. Even though
its metal composition gives it a somewhat clin-
ical air, the piece's title indicates it's an object
that invites people to move and gather around
it and to converse with one another over it.
Tobias Rehberger pays homage to Claude
Monet in his Nympheas (Agapanthes) 1916-26,a pair of gigantic low, round cushions that
share an affinity with lily pads and invite
groups of people to sit on them and visit with
one another. An interesting tension is created
between the precise geometric patterns of
fabric that cover them and the softness that is
inherent in cushions.
While minimalist artists rejected painting,
several artists in this show create paintings on
canvas that are precise and geometric and look
more like they are made out of glossy plastic or
have metal parts because of the paints these
artists select and the ways they apply them to
the canvas. Peter Halley's Slot Charger is a series
of rectangles and conduit-like lines that refer-
ence batteries and telecommunication path-
ways. Greg Bogin's Comfort is a small triangular
painting with a rectangle in its center and hung
near the ceiling just out of reach. Sarah Morris'
Bathroom Floor (blue) is painted in Domino's
Pizza colors - blue, orange-red and white. It
represents an architectural space and angles off
into illusory recession as the tiles decrease in
size. The painting references our homes, which
we like to be warm, yet nothing is colder than
bathroom tiles. This yields a contradictory
message, that mirrors many elements in
contemporary life. O
Greg Bogin
Comfort, 1998
Peter Halley
Slot Charger, 1998
Photos: Courtesy of Turnrc & RunyonARTLIES SUMMER 1999 45
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Lightman, Victoria H. Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999, periodical, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228053/m1/47/?q=%22Bryant%2C+John%22: accessed May 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .