Barbara Rose Article Index for
Barbara
Website Links For
Barbara
 

Information About

Barbara Rose





''ABC ART''

In her essay, ''ABC Art'', Rose considers the diverse roots of Minimalism in the work of Malevich and Duchamp as well as the choreography of Merce Cunningham , the art criticism of Greenberg , the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the novels of Robbe-Grillet .

In examining the historical roots of Minimal Art in 1960s America, Rose draws a distinction between Kasimir Malevich 's "search for the transcendental, universal, absolute" and Marcel Duchamp 's "blanket denial of the existence of absolute values."

She groups some 1960's artists as closer to , Donald Judd , Carl Andre , Dan Flavin .

Her conclusion is that Minimal Art is both Transcendental and negative:

"The art I have been talking about is obviously a negative art of denial and renunciation. Such protracted asceticism is normally the activity of contemplatives or mystics...Like the mystic, in their work these artists deny the ego and the individual personality, seeking to evoke, it would seem, the semihypnotic state of blank unconsciousness."


She also contrasts Minimal Art with Pop Art :

"...if Pop Art is the reflection of our environment, perhaps the art I have been describing is its antidote, even if it is a hard one to swallow."



SEE ALSO


Artists




BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • ''ABC Art,'' '' Art In America '', October 1965

  • ''American Art Since 1900'', 1967

  • ''Abstract Illusionism'', Artforum , October 1967, pp. 33-37.