Assignment 2

Look at Allan McCollum’s work Plaster Surrogates shown at the beginning of this chapter and explain its relationship to Modernist art and theory.

To address this question, I started by looking into the Plaster Surrogates by Alan McCollum and seeing the different ways that they are displayed in a gallery. The Plaster Surrogates are a series of monochrome black pieces in frames which are created with enamel on cast hydrostone. The process in making these pieces is quite interesting. It is described on MoMa.org that the artist and his assistants used repetitive techniques that made the artistic process more like manufacturing processes. It integrates art and mass production. Despite this, no two pieces have the same dimensions or shade of frame.

The title “Plaster Surrogates” is interesting . Firstly the pieces are made using plaster so this is descriptive of the process of making them.  The word surrogate is usually defined as a substitute for something. This means that the title is quite important for understanding the work. Plaster Surrogates may therefore be a title describing how the work is substituting other art that would be on the walls of the gallery as it covers the walls with monochrome black paintings in frames. Could it be a message about the state of modern art and how it is presented in art galleries and museums? I watched an interview with Alan McCollum where he described some of the meaning behind Plaster Surrogates. He said that it was about looking at the way that we display art or photographs on our walls, and the context of how it is displayed. He discusses that he wants to look at how art on our walls becomes a collectible, like ornaments in our homes. He kept the actual “painting” blank in order for the focus to be on the way the frames are arranged as opposed to the subject of the “paintings”.

When I researched images of the paintings, I noticed that there are many different ways that they have been displayed.

Plaster Surrogates, Allan McCollum – 1982-84

It is interesting to see how this work can be displayed so differently and is so adaptable to the environment in which it is displayed. It can range from as little as 8 or 10 to up to 300 pieces. The images of the installation covering the walls of smaller rooms is interesting as I can imagine it is very impactful to the viewer.

So how does Plaster Surrogates relate to Modernist art and theory? Modernist art is described by the Tate as being a rejection of history and conservative values. It is about innovation and experimentation with form and an emphasis on materials, techniques and processes. I think that Plaster Surrogates falls under the definition above. It is innovative in the way that its emphasis is on the way that we display art in our galleries and homes rather than the art itself. Also the manufacturing process of Plaster Surrogates has an emphasis on mass production.

Thierry de Duve wrote an essay called “The Monochrome and the Blank Canvas” which I read in order to help me to address the relationship of Plaster Surrogates to Modernist art and theory. It starts by discussing some works by Frank Stella called The Black Paintings. They were displayed at an exhibition at MoMA in 1959 called Sixteen Americans. The black paintings were a series of paintings made with multiple black lines. The painting below was one in the series:

The Marriage of Reason and Squalor II, Frank Stella, 1959

An excerpt from the catalogue accompanying the exhibition said “Frank Stella is not interested in expression or sensitivity. He is interested in the necessities of painting. . . . His stripes are the paths of brush on canvas. These paths lead only into painting.” (MoMA publications, 2019)

I can imagine that these paintings had a real visual impact on the viewer, especially displayed in the series as they were at the 1959 exhibition. Thierry de Duve discusses how the repetitive black stripes of his paintings, created with  wide housepainters brush in a mechanical and repetitive pattern were a “contrast with the exuberant expressionism of most of the other participants [which]could not have been more striking.” (De Duve,1996) It would appear that these paintings were very minimalist in comparison to the other paintings in the exhibition which appeared quite “painterly” in comparison. Minimalism describes a series of movements within Modern art where a work of art eliminates any non essential forms and details in order to focus on the essential essence of a form. Minimalism was interpreted as being a reaction to abstract impressionism and the messy and noisy action paintings like those of Jackson Pollock.

De Duve discusses that Clement Greenberg did not acknowledge these paintings in his essay “Modernist Painting” where he discusses landmarks within modern art. De Duve says that when he interviewed Greenberg his reply was that they are not good enough. As De Duve discusses, does Greenberg feel that minimalist paintings “transgressed this ultimate limit and became arbitrary objects?” (De Duve, 1996) Would Greenberg view Plaster Surrogates as arbitrary objects rather than art? It seems that his view of the minimalist monochrome paintings of Frank Stella would suggest that he would see then as such rather than as works of art. It could be argued that this view is something that is being addressed within the work of Plaster Surrogates, as McCollum discussed that it is about addressing how art is displayed and becomes a collectible in our homes. This would be something that would fit in with the statement by Greenberg that “a picture stops being a picture and turns into an arbitrary object” (Greenberg, 1961) McCollums work seems to address this and the fact that in some settings art has become an object to be collected rather than a piece to study and interpret. Plaster Surrogates definitely seems to reject past values of art which is one of the ideals of Modernist art, to reject history and conservative values of art previously.

Looking further at monochrome art, I looked at Kazimir Malevich’s White on White painting. A painting that is completed on a white canvas, using white paint:

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White- 1918

I read about this painting before I saw it and what I imagined was a silly statement with a “blank” canvas. However when I saw the piece I realised this is not what it is at all. There are subtle variations in the tones of white, creating the square in the center of the piece and on closer examination there is use of texture and even the artist’s hand print within the painting. This cannot possibly therefore be described as a blank canvas. It is these subtle uses of the paint shades and textures that are what set a Monochrome apart from just a “blank canvas.” Clement Greenberg who was generally very scathing of minimal art eventually admitted that the blank canvas could be called a picture and therefore be art. He admits that the all black and all white paintings of Robert Rauschenberg were “familiar looking and even slick” (Battock, 1968) and he admitted that they were different from the wall they were displayed on so must therefore be by definition a painting or art.

I think that throughout my research on Plaster Surrogates and monochrome art, that I feel that the work has a relationship to Modernist art and theory. As discussed, Modernist art is a rejection of history and conservative values. It is about innovation and experimentation with form and an emphasis on materials, techniques and processes. All of these are addressed within the work. In relation to the works of Frank Stella there is a preface to them by Carl Andre which mentions that “art excludes the unnecessary” (Andre,1959) I feel that this could definitely be applied to the work of Allan McCollum with his Plaster Surrogates. In the case of McCollum’s work, the painting itself seems to be the unnecessary part of the art that has been excluded. McCollum wanted the emphasis to be on how the art was displayed and collected rather than the painting itself so therefore he removed the unecessary part and left it as a blank black painting within the frame. Plaster Surrogates could be described as both Minimalist and Monochrome, the features of it fitting within both of these forms of Modernist art.

Reflection

I looked back at the assessment criteria to reflect on how I feel I have done with this part in relation to those criteria. I think that I have generally been able to demonstrate a good knowledge of the subject and historical contexts but I found this more difficult than Part 1. I used my research of essays and texts such as those of Clement Greenberg to help me have a broader understanding of the viewpoints around the subject. I found that completing excercise 2.1 and creating my own version of Barr’s chart was really helpful and made it easier for me to visualise and understand the wider context and the movements in the art world. I also found that the research on how historical events affected the art world really interesting. This is something that I hope to draw on this research more within my future exercises and assignments. I think that looking back, I could have used this wider knowledge more when I completed my assignment piece.

I used a number of essays and texts from written and internet sources in order to help me to complete the exercises. I think that I have improved by use of referencing and bibliography based off my tutor feedback from part one. I am still thinking that this needs tweaking and I aim to ask my tutor for help with this so that I can ensure that it is correct going forward. I watched a video interview with Allan McCollum in order to help me to address the assignment question. This was really helpful and it was also nice to be able to evaluate his work having heard the actual words of the artist himself. It made me much more confident in my analysis of the work when I was able to directly quote the artist and his intentions with the work.

I find myself generally drawing on the same few texts and arguments such as those of Clement Greenberg. I think that going forward I need to try and research and find a wider breadth of debates and interpretations to use within my work. I found Part 2 harder than Part 1 to do this with. Maybe due to the vast subject of Modernist art, in some ways this was harder to research relevant material than a more restricted subject. I struggled a lot more with this part and also the assignment piece than I did in Part 1, and reading it back I think you can tell. I found myself spending a long time trying to find particular quotes and arguments. I think this could be improved if I read through the exercises and assignments first, completed wider reading and made notes from this, then attempted the exercises and assignments. I also intend to plan out the assignments before I start typing them out as this will lead to a more structured essay.

I think there are still a lot of improvements that I can make and I have found the reflection exercise really useful in helping me to see how I can improve my technique and the tutor feedback in picking up on the knowledge areas that could do with further exploration. My intention for Part 3 is to think about these areas of reflection and implement them to hopefully positively impact my work going forward.

Images

Images courtesy of- http://allanmccollum.net/amcnet2/album/plastersurrogates2.html- Accessed 26th August 2020

Image courtesy of https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80316- Accessed 30th August 2020

Image courtesy of https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80385- Accessed 31st August 2020

References

Andre, C., 1959. “Preface to Stripe Painting” in Sixteen Americans, ed Miller, D. C. (New York, The Museum of Modern Art)

Clement Greenberg, Modernist Painting, 1961

Clement Greenberg, “Recentness of Sculpture,” in Minimal Art, A Critical Anthology, ed Gregory Battcock (New York Dutton, 1968)

MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2019)

Thierry De Duve, Kant after Duchamp-Chapter 4: The Monochrome and the Blank Canvas, 1996

Bibliography

Moma.org- https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79653- Accessed 26th August 2020

National Gallery of Art (2016) Allan McCollum/NGA [online video]- Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asvSunfWmrM- Accessed 26th August 2020

Tate.org- https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism- Accessed 27th August 2020

Clement Greenberg, Modernist Painting, 1961