Process art
Encyclopedia
Process art is an artistic movement as well as a creative sentiment and world view where the end product of art and craft, the objet d’art, is not the principal focus. The 'process' in process art refers to the process of the formation of art: the gathering, sorting, collating, associating, and patterning. Process art is concerned with the actual doing; seeing the art as pure human expression. Process art often entails an inherent motivation, rationale, and intentionality
. Therefore, art is viewed as a creative journey or process, rather than as a deliverable or end product.
, and in its employment of serendipity
has a marked correspondence with Dada
. Change and transience are marked themes in the process art movement. The Guggenheim Museum
states that Robert Morris in 1968 had a groundbreaking exhibition and essay defining the movement and the Museum Website states:
The Process art movement and the environmental art
movement are directly related:
In process art, as in the Arte Povera
movement, nature itself is lauded as art; the symbolization and representation of nature, often rejected.
, sun dance
, and the Tea ceremony
are fundamentally related pursuits.
Aspects of the process of the construction of a Vajrayana
Buddhist sand mandala
(a subset
of sandpainting) of Medicine Buddha by monks from Namgyal Monastery
in Ithaca, New York that began February 26, 2001 and concluded March 21, 2001 has been captured and web-exhibited by the Ackland's Yager Gallery of Asian Art. The dissolution of the mandala was on June 8, 2001.
Intentionality
The term intentionality was introduced by Jeremy Bentham as a principle of utility in his doctrine of consciousness for the purpose of distinguishing acts that are intentional and acts that are not...
. Therefore, art is viewed as a creative journey or process, rather than as a deliverable or end product.
Process art movement
Process art has been entitled as a creative movement in the US and Europe in the mid-1960s. It has roots in the drip paintings of Jackson PollockJackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, and in its employment of serendipity
Serendipity
Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its...
has a marked correspondence with Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
. Change and transience are marked themes in the process art movement. The Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
states that Robert Morris in 1968 had a groundbreaking exhibition and essay defining the movement and the Museum Website states:
The ephemeral nature and insubstantiality of materials was often showcased and highlighted.
Process artists were involved in issues attendant to the body, random occurrences, improvisation, and the liberating qualities of nontraditional materials such as wax, felt, and latex. Using these, they created eccentric forms in erratic or irregular arrangements produced by actions such as cutting, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensation, freezing, or decomposition.
The Process art movement and the environmental art
Environmental art
The term environmental art is used in two different contexts: it can be used generally to refer to art dealing with ecological issues and/or the natural, such as the formal, the political, the historical, or the social context....
movement are directly related:
Process artists engage the primacy of organic systems, using perishable, insubstantial, and transitory materials such as dead rabbits, steam, fat, ice, cereal, sawdust, and grass. The materials are often left exposed to natural forces: gravity, time, weather, temperature, etc.
In process art, as in the Arte Povera
Arte Povera
Arte Povera is a modern art movement. The term was introduced in Italy during the period of upheaval at the end of the 1960s, when artists were taking a radical stance. Artists began attacking the values of established institutions of government, industry, and culture, and even questioning whether...
movement, nature itself is lauded as art; the symbolization and representation of nature, often rejected.
Process art antecedent
The process art movement has precedent in indigenous rites, shamanic and religious rituals, cultural forms such as sandpaintingSandpainting
Sandpainting is the art of pouring colored sands, powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, and pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting...
, sun dance
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols...
, and the Tea ceremony
Tea ceremony
A tea ceremony is a ritualised form of making tea. The term generally refers to either chayi Chinese tea ceremony, chado Japanese tea ceremony, tarye Korean tea ceremony. The Japanese tea ceremony is more well known, and was influenced by the Chinese tea ceremony during ancient and medieval times....
are fundamentally related pursuits.
Aspects of the process of the construction of a Vajrayana
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
Buddhist sand mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
(a subset
Subset
In mathematics, especially in set theory, a set A is a subset of a set B if A is "contained" inside B. A and B may coincide. The relationship of one set being a subset of another is called inclusion or sometimes containment...
of sandpainting) of Medicine Buddha by monks from Namgyal Monastery
Namgyal Monastery
Namgyal Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery associated with the Dalai Lamas. Founded in 1575 by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, Namgyal Monastery was historically housed within the Potala Palace...
in Ithaca, New York that began February 26, 2001 and concluded March 21, 2001 has been captured and web-exhibited by the Ackland's Yager Gallery of Asian Art. The dissolution of the mandala was on June 8, 2001.
Process art artists
- Lynda BenglisLynda BenglisLynda Benglis is an American sculptor known for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. After earning a BFA from Newcomb College in 1964, Benglis moved to New York, where she lives and works today...
- Chris DruryChris Drury (artist)Chris Drury is a British environmental artist. His body of work includes ephemeral assemblies of natural materials, in the mode associated with Andy Goldsworthy, as well as more-permanent landscape art, works on paper, and indoor installations.Some of Drury's lasting works are "cloud chambers",...
- Eva HesseEva HesseEva Hesse , was a German-born American sculptor, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. -Early life:Hesse was born into a family of observant Jews in Hamburg, Germany...
- Bruce NaumanBruce NaumanBruce Nauman is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives in Galisteo, New Mexico....
- Robert MorrisRobert Morris (artist)Robert Morris is an American sculptor, conceptual artist and writer. He is regarded as one of the most prominent theorists of Minimalism along with Donald Judd but he has also made important contributions to the development of performance art, land art, the Process Art movement and installation...
- Richard SerraRichard SerraRichard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
- Keith SonnierKeith SonnierKeith Sonnier is a Postminimalist, performance, video and light artist. Sonnier was one of the first artists to use light in sculpture in the 1960s, and has been one of the most successful with this technique...