Postminimalism

Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971^[1] and used in various artistic fields for work which is influenced by, or attempts to develop and go beyond, the aesthetic of minimalism.^[2] The expression is used specifically in relation to music and the visual arts, but can refer to any field using minimalism as a critical reference point. In music, postminimalism refers to music following minimal music.

Visual art

See also: List of postminimalist artists

Postminimalist visual art uses minimalism either as a conceptual art aesthetic or a generative art practice. Like Fluxus, Postminimalism is more of an artistic tendency than a particular style, but in general, postminimalist artworks often use everyday objects, simple materials, and sometimes take on a pure formalist aesthetics or post-conceptual approaches. However, since postminimalism includes such a diverse and disparate group of artists, it is impossible to enumerate all the continuities and similarities between them. But as two opposing examples, take the work of Eva Hesse and her use of modern art grids and minimalist seriality that were usually hand-made, introducing a human element into minimalism in contrast to the machine fabrication more typical of the minimalism of someone like Carl Andre. Richard Serra was another prominent postminimalist though his large metal sculptures are completely machine made.^[3]

Music

See also: List of postminimalist composers

In its general musical usage, "postminimalism" refers to works influenced by minimal music, and it is generally categorized within the meta-genre art music. Writer Kyle Gann^[4] has employed the term more strictly to denote the style that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s and characterized by:

1. a steady pulse, usually continuing throughout a work or movement;
2. a diatonic pitch language, tonal in effect but avoiding traditional functional tonality;
3. general evenness of dynamics, without strong climaxes or nuanced emotionalism; and
4. unlike minimalism, an avoidance of obvious or linear formal design.

Minimalist procedures such as additive and subtractive process are common in postminimalism, though usually in disguised form, and the style has also shown a capacity for absorbing influences from world and popular music (Balinese gamelan, bluegrass, Jewish cantillation, and so on).

See also

• Holy minimalism
• Lyrical Abstraction
• Neo-expressionism
• New York School
• Fluxus
• Casualism
• Conceptual art
• Appropriation (art)
• Institutional Critique
• Postmodern art
• Post-conceptualism
• Art software
• Computer art
• Internet art
• Electronic art
• Systems art
• Cyberarts
• New Media
• New Media Art
• Computer generated music
• Generative art
• Monochrome painting
• Neo-minimalism
• Timbral listening
• Totalism (music)

References

1. Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 569. ISBN 0-19-923966-5.
2. Pincus-Witten, Robert (November 1971). "Eva Hesse: Post-Minimalism into Sublime". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
3. Smith, Roberta (14 April 2011). "Richard Serra's Drawings at Metropolitan Museum of Art", NYTimes.com. Accessed 8 June 2012.
4. Kyle Gann. 2001. "Minimal Music, Maximal Impact: Minimalism's Immediate Legacy: Postminimalism". New Music Box: The Web Magazine from the American Music Center (1 November) (Accessed 4 February 2012).

External links

• Minimal Music, Maximal Impact by Kyle Gann © 2001 NewMusicBox
• A Discography of Postminimal, Totalist, and Rare Minimalist Music by Kyle Gann
• MINUS SPACE reductive art