(3 above)
(4 below)
Gordon Matta Clark began his artistic schooling by studying architecture at Cornell. While studying abroad in Paris in 1968, he became interested in desconstrictivist philosophy. This is a practice in which one tries to glean meaning of an object or piece of text by breaking down the components, exposing the most basic aspects of the structure or argument(2). It is through this thought process that his building cut works come about. Many of Matta-Clark’s subversive, and likely due to the controversy, famous pieces, were alterations of existing buildings. One of these, Conical Intersect, is a re-evaluation of the building as a structure(2). By literally cutting through walls and floors, he began the process of demolition that was set to happen. Conical Intersect, as a piece was fleeting. As it was set for demolition, there was never a chance of Matta-Clark creating a permanent work of art. This means that the pieces did not sit around, and only briefly created a dialogue between themselves and the surrounding environment, and there is a sense of timing to them. Logistically, this is the probably the reason that Matta-Clark was even allowed to cut up these structures. It would be interesting to know if the pieces would be as powerful if they were not slated for demolition. In another act of rebellion was a lash out against modernist architects and the low income housing being built in cities at the time. He shot out the windows of The Institute for Urban Planning, making the building resemble pictures he placed of damaged urban homes(1). He protested the lack of resources and importance placed upon these spaces by his mentors. It is questionable whether the piece is art in the strictest sense. But as the artist conceptually attempts to recreate the urban buildings, he puts the modernist architects in the shoes of the city’s poor(1). (1)http://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/04/artseen/gmc-april-matta (2)http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/24688/gordon-matta-clark-at-the-whitney/ (3)http://www.curatedobject.us/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/30/6_gordon_matta_clark_splitting.jpg (4)http://www.muhka.be/images/image_117.jpg
James Turrell
James Turrell is an artist who creates structures through which the audience views light and space. These structures are like frames through which one views the world, and because of this, the piece its self is not art, but the action of the viewer’s re-evaluation of space and the world is(3).
Turrell has spent the past 30 years working on his opus, Roden Crater. He bought the dead volcano in 1978, and has attempted to transform it from a naturally built structure, into an observatory of sorts. This piece has cost him decades of his life, thousands of dollars, and various personal relationships(2).
Turrell, like many other recent sculptors have moved away from the gallery setting, hoping to create a piece that is in a space all of its own. This may be in an attempt to create a separate atmosphere for his art; so as to keep each piece separate, and not in constant comparison with other pieces of art. Conceptually and logistically, a piece like Rodan Crater would never work or have quite the same impact as an experience if it was close to or placed within a cityscape.
Turrell creates works of art with a kind of reverence that is rare from artists. Many come off as iconoclastic, or in opposition to societal norms(3). The artist is adapting a naturally constructed megalith into a structure focused on creating a new experience of light, the natural beauty of Arizona’s Painted Desert, and the drama and movement that fill the sky(1). The project is promising, and will be his crowning achievement when he opens it in 2011.
(1)http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/arts/design/25fink.html?_r=1&ref=arts
(2)http://www.lasersol.com/art/turrell/rc_intro.html
(3)http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roden.jpg
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