The title of the lecture: Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg
We began by looking at the work of the Abstract Expressionists and how their ethos corresponded and differed to that of the two titles artists. Specifically looking at the works between 1950 - 1953. Craig pointed out that the artists within the AE movement were authorial as artists, they were at the centre of their woks creation; The pieces an expression of themselves. The evidence for this claim was presented in the form of documentary images. How the photos of the artist working within their studios suggest to promote the creator over the creation. Another testament to this appears in David Hopkins 'After Modern Art' (art and social function, page 15) when he writes "Abstract Expressionist individualism was promoted by the American establishment to counter the collectivist ideals of Socialist Realism.). The Abstract Expressionists interest with the Surrealisms considerations for Freud and the unconscious also promote an importance of self.
'Erased De Kooning Drawing' by Robert Rauschenberg, 1953
To paraphrase Craig: The process of the work was a reduction to structure. It could be seen as symbolic, for an erasing of his peers or the 'fathers' of the art before him; An "iconoclasm'. This piece was a powerful statement in the direction of the New York avant garde.
Photo of Black Mountain Collage
The Avant garde being spoke of had a home at the Black Mountain Collage. Rauschenberg attended here alongside De Kooning and many others. Here at Black Mountain:
"Composer John Cage pioneered the idea of aleatoric music; choreographer Merce Cunningham formed an experimental dance company which changed the course of modern dance. Robert Rauschenberg blurred the boundary between painting and sculpture, calling his art “installations” for the first time; Jasper Johns started a new age with his pop imagery entering the world of fine art; and painter Cy Twombly worked with John Cage to visualize Cage’s musical concept of silence with his graffiti-like scribbles." written by penccil
As a collective these artists assumed a critical reflection on the nature of contemporary art, questioning and experimenting with it. Duchamp can be seen as a large influence within their ethos. A certain distance and detachment is evident in their process. Duchamp promoted just as Dada, the Surrealists, and John Cage's Fluxist's embraced, that chance is essential in art; that you mustn't attempt to exert a control over that, more so to realise it as integral. Framing back to the initial address of Craig's lecture, in this very sense, the work being created by Rauschenberg and his immediate peers was anti-authorial; It did not suppose, but reflect, did not impose, but create space.
This Anti-authorial approach is evident in this statement. Talking about his 'White Paintings' Rauschenberg stated "It is completely irrelevant that I am making them. Today is their creator." (I suppose I'm curious as to how we adopt this attitude in other areas of our life, and not just our view on art.)
And again the creation of space could not exemplified better then in John Cage's 4:33:
The piece is obviously about silence, but through that uses the medium of ambient sound. It allows space for the sound that already exists In this sense the work work is inhabited by the audience and becomes them. The objective is, maybe, to reflect the subjective response. John Cage in conversation about the piece said he wanted "to move from structure to process, from music as an object having parts, to music without beginning, middle or end. Music as weather."
This piece titled 'Minutiae' by Rauschenberg (1954) was present in the lecture as example of the artists suggestion that the medium should not define the creator, that you can be more then a painter, or a sculpture. It reminds me of a realisation i'd had a while ago, that the truth can be spoken in several languages, apparently quite obvious on one hand, and yet for me, a profound realisation about the nature of language and communication on the other.
This understanding can be related to 'The finger and the moon' proverb:
The nun Wu Jincang asked the Sixth Patriach Huineng, "I have studied the Mahaparinirvana sutra for many years, yet there are many areas i do not quite understand. Please enlighten me."
The patriach responded, "I am illiterate. Please read out the characters to me and perhaps I will be able to explain the meaning."
Said the nun, "You cannot even recognize the characters. How are you able then to understand the meaning?"
"Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?"
This understanding is discussed in more detail here
Collection of Mark Rothko's 'Black paintings' at The Rothko Chapel
Perhaps overtly opposite to the 'White paintings' of Rauschenberg, however pushing the politics of the new York art scene to the side, formally I am claiming that Rothko's 'Black paintings' have more in common with John Cage's 4:33 then Rauschenberg's paintings. Where the white paintings propose a purity of form in space, there is an inherant awareness that the object exists through ethereality of its subject; adversely Rothko's 'Black paintings' create a void in space, Like reflective black hole, pulling you in as subject. Continuing along the space themed metaphors, in 4:33 there is this same sense of vacuum which the work creates; like a sensory deprivation tank the stimulus is denied, leaving our-self, our natural state of being, brought into conciousness; it can be witnessed within the video of 4:33's performance above, just as I witnessed it in the lecture hall when Craig orchestrated (in a sense) a re-enactment, us as the audience. These works are the 'awkward silence', only named so because we can no longer distract ourselves and become aware of the present moment, the infinite now.
Thanks to Craig Staff for an inspiring lecture
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