8/10/2019 02. David Geers
1/6
Neo-Modern
D
:vr
; '.F RS
111 a ll} p r;\ titi
on
er o r critic inform ed by th e critique of mod
erni
sm , its recent
I \ r l ill
n isi
ir pr
act
ice offers a bewildering pu zzlc. R
ep e
alin g esta blished t
ab
oos
nd hack th e clock, the last few yea rs h ave seen a renewed
in t
erest in
abstructlon . mater ia lity, an d process in ways that , o n the surface, recall th e forma)
1 lcgi .s
01
modernist an a nd its
Minim
alist offshoo ts. In th e United
Stat
es a lo
ne,
111 , w Museum's Unmonumental (2008), th e Kitch en 's Besides,
vVith,
Aga'insl ,
and
}' l.' .H'Mrclr l i fm and the
Read
y-Made Gesture
(2009- 10), the Sculpture Ce nter 's Knight's
M
IYIJt (2010), th e Los Ang e les Co un ty Museum o f Art 's
m ink)' Palermo:
Reir spea ioe
lQ6 IV7 ,
th e
Mu
seum of M
od
ern Art 's
Abstract Expressioni st Neio Yorll
9 I ll- I
I , and a hos t of ga llery s
ho
ws ha ve al1 registered thi s seac
hange,
showcasi
ng
.. 11.: u rgen t concern with abst raction [rom a var ie t y of p
er
spe
ct i
ves,
Whik mau v of th ese a
rt
istic practices and curatorial p roject s d
em
on st rate
rmllpk nn rl nit ical
re l
at i
on
ships to
mode
rn ism , abs trac t ion , and a
uto
nomy,
til
11: is neve r theless a slow g rav it
at
iona l pull , in both pr
odu ct ion
a n d re c
ep
tion ,
iowar
rl
a less reflexive and mo
re
nostalgic a tt itu
de
. In deed, any visit
to
C
he
lsea,
the nwe r Last Sid e o r a n MFA program will yield a p epp erin g of objec ts tb ar
mimi th e fo rm al moves of som e mode rn ist a rt . Wby now? My co nje cture is rhaL
h is n.:\ I\, I1 is a re turn to fo u nda tio ns not unlike similar re turn s during pe r iods of
zrcu anx ie ty and uph eaval. But w
he
reas
th
e raj j el iJ l 'ordre o f t h e 1920s,
for
instance , g';17(>d toward an a ntique figurative tr aditi on , t h e cu rren t turn to th e
lns i '11grasps at m
or
e rec
ent
be d
roc
k.
A per fec t storm of timin g a nd influ
en
ce, th is
em
b
rac
e of mode
rni
st styles is a
'OIW
-r renee
of
several developm ent s. It is, in equal p
art
s, a
ge
ne rational fat igue
with theo rv: a grow i
ng
split b et ween band-mad e a rt istic produ c tion a n d soc ial
p rucri
o
a nd a l
egitimat
e a nd th rifty a ttempt
to
keep
it real in th e [ace ot an
v
r-r-xpa nsivo
im ag'f' cu ltu re and th e slick commodi ty a rt of Koons. Murakami ,
:l rl
oth
e rs. Bur
,
it a lso represelll s a n ostalgi c r
etren
chrnerrt o n th e p
art of an
a rt
wor l I I
h rc
au
-ru-d
by tech nological tr an sforrna t ion
an
d eco
no
mic nn cer t
aint
y th at
n
_w un dr-rm ne
u s
hier
archies and claim s o f cultu ra l p
recede
nce.
AI
th e sa
me
t imr-, todavs app ropriati on of modernist a hs
uac
ti
on
is fa r too ec lect ic to be assoc i
at ed
with
[h
e
m edium -spe cifi c, tel eolo gical f
orm
alism of Cle
me
n t
Gree
n
berg
.
: -it
o-Io rr
na
lism ca n d ra w on a I ange of influen ce s s
pa
nning Co nst r
uct
ivism
to
A
nt
OLIO/} :I I I i .
), Il' ill It I 20 I 2,
1'
4 i f 2012 0((01 M ((
gilV
nfl, u . ru u Ma ss-ub usett-. l1111I1u( I oj
1
;'d u iOIJJg).
8/10/2019 02. David Geers
2/6
10 OCTOBER
Po
ver
a,
but
it most clos ely resembl es A
ction
P
aintin
g in its e
mp
has is
on
p
erf
orma
t.ivc pr
o
du
cti
on
(
rea
d
pr
ocess) an d abs tract f
orm
.
Ino
cul at
ed
with a
do
se of th e
everyday, however, n eo- forrn alism tr affi cs
in
hybridized materials th at affo rd it a ref
e re n t ial base and so insulate it against charges of
pur
e abs tra
ct
ion . Its decor, to o ,
often ca rr ies a payload of gr i tty m at
eri
alism
that
defl ects
an
y accusa tio n o f s
tr
ictly
ae sthe tic claim s. Thus a wo r k by J osh Smith , Dani el H e
sid
e n ce, Al ex Hubb
ar d
,
Th
om as Haseago , Ri
chard
Aldr ich , o r Cedi Sibony
j
ust to n am e a few, might ju
xt
a
po se a m
oderni st
lo
ok with
a m
at erial
p
roces
s ,
cou
n t e r
ba
la n c i
ng
a es the tic
del ectati on with asce tic denial.
N
egat
i
ng
pict
ori
al d
epth with
surface, and co nvent ional r
epr
es
en
t
at i on
with
mat
er i
ality, such
pr
actices a ttem pt
to
circumven t a
fundam ent
ally
unr
eliable and
the
o r e r
ic
al l
y f
orecl
os
ed
im age-w
orld
.
But if
th i s r esurre
cted in t
ere st in
materi
al
experim e n ta tion
and
anti-pi
ctori
al
op
acit y is admirable as a resistance to a per fected
illusi
oni
sm , it also
turns
a blind eye to its
own
co nserva tive t
endenci
es. In c
orp orat
ing
th e receiv
ed
valu es of m
ater i
alism an d co n tex t-sensitivity, t
od
ay's nc
o-formali
sm
ne
v
e rthele ss pursues an art of intuiti ve, aest he t ic
ar
rang ement th at sati sfies th e need for
formal co ntinuities and simple answers during a particul arly co mplex time .
Whil e it p ro pounds a di scourse o f q uotidian m
od
es t an alch emy of th e
eve ry
da
y - neo -fo r
ma
lism in fact
nullifi
es th e spe cificity
and
discursive p
ot
e nr ial
of
its own m at
eri
als and su bsu
mes
th em in a fa
mili
ar m od ernist idi om .' U nlike the
cr iti ca l a pp ro pr ia t ion a rt of th e 1980s, it adva nces a revere ntial man u al re -craft
ing
of
mod ernism
th
at filt
er s its sources th
rou gh
th e
indi vidu
al se nsibility of th e
artist. Less sim ula tion th
an em
ulat ion , neo-f
orrnalism
is in fac t a r est
or
at ive pro
j ect th at may tes t th e limits of yo ur f
aith
in art ,
but
o rilv in o
rde
r to re new it
more rc s
olut
ely.s Actin g like a
modern-d
ay Arc irn
bo
ld o , th e a rt ist s
ha
pes
the
o rdi
nar
y m
att
er
of
t
od
ay
int
o th e fo
rm
al ec
ho
es o f yes te r
day
,
thu
s va lid a t i
ng
th
e
m
od ern
visual
tradition
as an
intrin
sic a nd en d u r i
ng value. :
ln so doin g , neo
fo
rm
alism retreats to a so lipsism
that
, while gu
ar
an
tee
i
ng
im p rovisa to r y fr eed
om
,
also she lte r s th e ar t ist and th e co llector alike in an ech o c
ha
m ber of
art-hi
storical
refere nce and formal free-pl ay. A t
on
ce sh ie ld ed and e
nto
m bed , nco-form alism
remains a pi c torially hut n
ot ope
r
at
io
na
lly resist
ant
ges ture th at is cha racte r ized
by aest he t ic withdrawal a
nd
ratified by an a ll-to o -willing
mark
et.
Rh etori cally su
pporte
d as a sh ift to co ncre teness and a id ed by c
urr
en t th e
1. An alc
he m
ist 0 1th e everyday, Sib o ny makes st ri pped-
do
wn sculptures lh al ma y le
l
lh
e limu
s of
yo
ur
Iauh an . bUI
Ih
ey li also re new
i t .
Ced i Sibo ny, Th N
I 1J)
Yorwl ( May 26, 20
011 ,
p. 16.
' . Ib id.
:
. Se e Sa.uc h i Callerv 's ar t isrs p rofi le for Ced i Sibo ny, n . p. : I n
l
h t
s Tali s Tale.
Sib n uy co nfig
lire, a pa im iu g ' I ron I p last ic sh e e t ing a nd par king t a pe ,
wit
h t he ill cc glllar
8/10/2019 02. David Geers
3/6
11
1 v'. frayed re la t io n to pract ice, n ee-form ali
sm
also reanimates well-worn tropes
runn Li '(' e 'pn: ' 'ion an d ca tha rtic gesture . O
ne
sees
th i
s
espec
ially in th e re turn
of '1
,si nis i pa inting , repl e te wit h a d iscou
rse
of ineffahle and unfett
er
ed ere
atlon nd ,U I .qua llv tr an scend
en
tal su b
jec
t who
does
not re ly o n nostalgia (or]
\ I ~ U l t l
u h
1If' ''
hu
t
Ii
>nTIS
an
elusive s
pace
t
ha
t takes the viewer bey
on
d a d efin
bl langllagc,n
J
Her e- r
he
a
rt
ist once m or e assu
mes
the mantl e
of
an emanc ipa ted
11 nor (:lIId \ thut of em ancip a ted spectators ) , a llowing us to relive a m yth of a
wild , unrn .diated su b
jec
tivity we
lded
i nex t r ica bly to th e
pri
m al m edi
um
of
P ii ll l
- :m i
l l l
i.\ c th. t is pe rhaps co
mfo
rt ing
but
also nost algic an d mystified .
rom a t ruc tu ral persp ective , th is shi ft in foc us from di scour se to subject iv
uv und [r
I I I
re presen ta t ion to t h
ing
co u n ters mo re d em
at
erialized p rac tices such
CO Il f:
pt
uul a nd m
edi
a-b as
ed
wo rk. O ft e n
evok
ing th e m od esty o f eve r yday
nrerial , Ill;' -forrna lism appeals to th e simp licit ies o f a rtis tic lab or, a last bas tion
1I hllfll n i l )'
endangered (yet e n d ur ing ) tactile e ngageme n t
with
m att
er
.
At
t h . arne l ime , nc
o-f
orm
ali sm co
nst
it u
tes
a c
omplem
e
nt
to
th
e r
ein
vigora t
ed
fo 11
per
f nuan ce; indeed , it is o ne part of a dyad in which th e n ever-exr in
gui -ht:d n 't' I tor a
nthropomorphis m
an
d fig
ura
tio n
find
s it s
tran
s
itor
y pl ace on
I
Itt: ullerv aJlti m useum s tage in per form ance art (wi tness th e f
anf
ar e aro und
M, r in n hra rnovi s rece nt re rr o
sp
e cr ivc
The
Artist
Is Present).
Such p opulist
an thr r
m rplrism i
hu
s
of
fe rs u p the b
od
y fo r voye
ur
istic sc rutiny,
whil
e th e
rommcrcinl ~ is s trip ped down to a vag u e, fo rma l ve h icl e , co nve n tiona l
enough I ppcal
to
an equally broad
aud
i
en
ce.
) ('
fa il, in thi s ti m e o f ec o no mic crisis an d p oli tical un c
ert
aint y, mod-
m i.m ruav ullp r tl: closest
thin
g we have to a so lid fo u n da tion-to a classical as
well , u
cr
u ica l
pa
st. Yet, if t
od
ay's
run
to th e Rothko s
imi
t at es mo
de
rn ism's
dlal t ical
na
tu re (its tac tical ca ll-a rid-
re spo
nse
of
o
ne
style to ano the r) in o rd e r
[ f nest th e d ominance o f co ncep t
ua
l and im age-based wo r ks, it a lso d isca rds
rnu rn i rn's
op
positiona l as
pects
. Instead , it p
lun
ders m od
erni
sm 's f
orm
al au rib
III ,
for wha tever char
ge
th ey mi gh t st ill h ol d , tra ffic king equa lly in t
he
shoc king ly
OllJr '. an d th e rnnoni ra lly f
amili
ar.
i pa in t in g by J osh Sm ith , fo r in st
an
ce , coy ly pl ays with Expressio nist
trop
es
l1lug led ill u iu le r the rubri c o f reproduci
bilit
y;
eac
h mark
fun
cti on s as bo th
autheutic rure an d co py, a t once full of h yp
erb
oli c displ ay an d em pty o f se nt i
ment. Ve l. pus d ,'g ains t n o h eg
emoni
c
rea
lism and co ns u
me
d
for
its aest
he
tic
pp .;d , M:I 11 wo rk sim ply tr affics in familiar cl iches of art istic inn ocen ce. Suc h
innoc n e . suppo
rt e
d by Sm
ith
's own
pr
osaic a rticulation
of
hi s
pr
a
ctic
e , h as lo ng
I Pre 5 n ' In ' Dan ie-l He>lden, e ', An/mean /]lIfj 1I0, D A rnelio Tcrras C IIe, )'. 2010 , n p.:
-J wo rk
V;
.
1I Fo r
bOI
h
P,l)IlICr
a nd
viewer, 1
hese
works embody a
ila li
,) Ih l
u nabash ed ly
{1 ., , he: MnSt .
8/10/2019 02. David Geers
4/6
OCTOBE
R
1) (:c lI the stuff of mod
erni
sm 's em
brace
o f th e pri mitive , the in f
anti
le, and t he sav
S
ma
ll
wonder,
th
en
, th at h is
abs
t
ractio
ns
an
d
pa i
n ti
ngs of
fish , leaves, a
nd
his
own end lessly and d ecor
ou
sly rearran ged Dame wo uld fin d such a m arket in an
era m
ar
ked by anxio us r
et
rospecti on .
Such a proj ect rep resents a cyn ical m
od
e] for a co n tem po ra ry p ract ice tha t
l IOW
searc
hes for lo o
ph
ol es a nd blind spots in a co nstant h edgin g of be ts. In
e ffec t, i t allows the
ar t
ist an d the collecto r to h ave it bo th ways- t he lux
ury
of ae s
thet ic p leas ure a nd i ts si m u l ta n e o us di sa vo wal. You
nger
a rt ists e xp lo it th is
ambiguo us ter rain , too ,
ac ting
as
un
witting champ io ns in today's vers ion of th e
re tu
rn
to th e
craf
l. 'i A p r oc
ess
-based re
sin
p
ain
tin g by
Alex Hubh
a rrl , fo r
instance, ca n echo de Kooning , Rothko , o r Ta
pie
s, all
of
wh om are
agg
ra nrlize d in
a youthful updat e. Meanwhile, a silver-dipped p ainting hy J acob Kassay reinv
ent
s
th e Co ns tructiv ist a nd Minimalist rn onoc h ro rn e as a prod
uct
of
rh e (now ant i
q uared ) ph o tographic pro cess, bu t also recast s it as a sump tua ry wa ll han
gin
g th at
vain ly m ir ro r s the liken ess o f i ts
pos
sessor.
In thi s way, nee -f
orm
alism ex h u mes a nd reco mbi nes form
er l
y revolut i
on
ar y
mo
de ls-Con st
ruc
tivism , Abs tract
Expres
sion ism , Arte Povera , Mini malism ,
et
c.- bnt
in so do ing fails to grasp n ew
soc
ial an d cultur al con figu ra tions tha t call fo r di fferent
stra teg ies a ltoge ther. n stark co ntrast, deve lopments in tech nology, the In tern et ,
aud socia l m
edi
a have
help
ed to mo bilize ac t
ua
l revo lu tions like th e
Ara
b Spri
ng
and
now th e O c
cupy ' Vall Stree t m ov
ement
, wh ile th e an world is st ill tr ying to co n ne ct
an emanr ipa tory rhe toric to an econo my of luxury goods. To obviate such im passes
an d vulgar co nce rns, nco-f
or
malism re treats to th e aura of the
object
and to its hal
lowed r
estin
g place in mod ernist a bstrac tion.
H owever, unlike mod
erni
sm 's form er cha m p ions, toclay's ar tists, cr it ics , and
salespeople o ften str uggle fo r a lan gu ag e to di scuss su ch pr actices. In stead th ey
fall bac k o n th e old ma
nt
r a of p rocess - no t becau se th e work arrests lan gu age
o r transc
end
s pos itivist
concept
io ns , as is o fte n cl aim e d , but beca use, in th e
absence of th e lo fty (ye t critical) di sc
ou
r se
tha
t f
uele
d much o f m odernism , th ere
is so little to discuss exce
pt
p rocess. T his un mo
or
ed rheto ric fin ds it self refl ect ed
in art sch
ools
as we ll. A visi t to an MFA program today will reveal a p le thora of
slacker abstrac tio ns th at channe l any
on
e and eve ryo ne fro m Richar d Tu ttle to
Mich ael Krebber. Wh en que ried
abo
u t the cr itica l stakes o r guid ing
pr i
nciples of
such a p rac tice , th e studen t repea ts th e lan gu age o f th e press rel eases: Wel], it 's
really intui rive.
ju
st
thin
kin g abo u t mater i als a nd process. Su ch my
opi
a , horn of
:J I n
T
h e
Retu
rn to th
e-
Cr af t' (
1920L
G lo rg-io
de
Ch irico ur ge ,
, I i r-unn
to c
lassrcal
nad
iu o u
,diel
a
,I al( '
o f
av.uu- ga
rde h yste: ia :
Wi t
h [h e su
nse
t
ol h ) Slerid mor
e
t han
o ne pai nter will re t
urn
lO i h e r ra lt , a m l those w
ho
h ave a lread y d o
ne
so ca n wo r k
wi t
h
(i
ce r
ha
nd s, an d th
eir
O J k Will h
ruo r
.1d '1'd,lk ly I
(o
g
nv.ed
,m el n-
co
mpr-ns
ed .
SC
e Ch .
nles H,
I)I ivon an d Pa u l Woo d. eds . ; \,.,
n
1
t
9 l
1 J1)()
Oxfo rd: Blackwe ll
b l i ~ h e
Pl 234 -:-17. II
i,
a lso
10 n
ot
e i hat
8/10/2019 02. David Geers
5/6
13
the r
ti J
l rcclosures and a ge n
era
l se nse of d
efeati
sm (o ne stu
den
t rec
entl
y
r
ema
rked, "How do vou c
omp
ete wit h Avatar? ), also signa ls a with d rawa l, a back
r i-basi mcn ta lh.y. In thi s re trea r, m
oderni
sm of
fers
a pr
oud
, lo ng-un claimed
ih,u ,1.11
now be surfed , co llage d, an d
artf
ully arranged into qu asi-un
cann
y
v l ~ j
I
II'
'il l
in form yet co m pl
acen
t in spirit.
l{
danger h
er
r is less th at th is ar t pr
om
ot e s an illusory au tono my or cynically
l n l ' I , I ihe market. th an tha t it reveals th e discour se of ar t as n ow co nsisti
ng
of
I I
LlLi
n hu t
t
Iw mark
I..
Nee dless to say, th e co llecting class, largely u nexposed to the
i ique
J mud rnism and still d riven by
hum
ani stic myths of crea tion, ce lebra tes
.1lI ' ,. 1 rrn lo the promise of an a
uto
no
mo
us , self-possessed mak
er
yield
ing
highly
. I: lb
.ticized P oducts
th rou
gh m ostly
intuiti
ve m
ean
s. For thi s
gene
ra lly o lde r
tf rntlgr;'lph ic,
th return to mod
erni
sm is p
er
ceived as co mbining t
he
street
er
ed of a
'O l
inge r
p; n Till ion with a vetted in
of f
ensiven ess tha t closely ec
hoes
t
he
class ics of
III
past cemur y.
So
a
Th
omas Houseage sculpture may invoke th e
prim
itivist.heroics
fP i a . , h ilc a "lace painting" by Mark Grotjann can ec ho KJee ox P
ou
sset te-D
art
Lest
11(;
lx-lieve that a wor k's implicit criticality were sufficien t to
undo
, co n
'vert , 0 1 m l . C . this mentality, an y visi t to a co llec tion will reveal th e
na
ivete of such
lhinklt
lj.\
. till motivated
by
aes thetic ap
pea
l, market value, and the de
cor
at ive place
IJ it work
111
the horne, most co llec tors in fact see m un mov
ed
or impervious to a
1\11
I
.r itical ge'itu res, while arti sts a re often t
orn
between p
er
s
on
al po litics and
omn rcial I ITSiIlI'(,.
The
two pa rties
thu
s e
ngage
in
8/10/2019 02. David Geers
6/6
4
OCTOBER
heigh ten ed fascination with ce lebrity (i.e.ijames Fra nco's newfound legitimacy as
an art ist), a nd th e Oscar-inspired Art Awards th at starte d as a gag by Rob Pr uitt
bur
have now been tran sformed into a legitimate award ce re mony.
Th
e neo - rrnalism crowding t
oda
y's MFA pro
gr
ams , ga lle ries , mu s
eum
s,
and art fairs is
both
th e os tensible an
tag
onist
of
thi s dev
elopment
and its rea
ction
formati
on
.
It
may ap
pe
a r to deny a p e
rf
ect
ed
spe
cta
cle, but it is
teth er
ed to it as by
an umbilical cord.v Les t on e mistake it f
or
th e auto no mo us art once championed
by Adorn o ,
th
is work se l
do
m aspires to address the ge neralized aliena tion th at
would re
sult
in a
ges
tu re of r
efu
sal , n
or is
it r
efu
sed by a literalist audience in
search of simple r things. R
ath
er, it gree ts a
pr
e-primed spe ctator, a lready indoctri
nated into th e co des and myth ologies of th e m od er n , who happ ily welco mes it as a
return to old certaint ies n ec ho of a lost go lde n age.
Ii. A, Cle me n t (; reelllw rg t,un ou ,l) \I
.ro t
e .
No
cu ltur e ca n d evelop wuho ut a soc ia l basis, wirho iu a
i l li
T e.'
of ' ldbk i
ncome
. And il l {he case o f th c avaru-garrie , th is as provid ed by a n eli te a m
ouu
lhe
rulin
g c l.rss o f ih ,
>ocin y
I
rom
whi ch
i l
assu
me
d
itself
to be cut
o ff,
bu t
10
wh ic h
il hI h ,I '
.u t
achcd
bv an
umbil
ical co rd of go ld :'
See
Avan t-C
arde
and Kitsch (19:19), in
Ih l iii
o }
/ 9f) 119 11i. p. ;\.
Top Related