symposium
reductive abstraction
less is more again
In the spring and summer of 2005 FOAM ArtRadius, together with Saksala ArtRadius
organized a sculpture symposium based
on the theme reductive abstraction. The material was wood.
Six
sculptors worked during different
periods in the summer. The periods overlap and at the most three
sculptors will be working at the same time. The material is wood (pine,
birch and poplar).
The works they produce will remain
their property. We do expect them to leave the work on loan to the open air
museum for a period of three years.
During the last two decades it
seems that art has been attempting to give itself more content by
accumulation. Combinations of superfluous materials and styles have lead to
a redundant art. But this apparent development is only an aspect of art as a
whole. What is presented as contemporary or even avant-garde is only that
which has temporarily in the spotlights of the museums and galleries. The
marketing of art by too many fashion seeking art historians and art
promoters is continuously aimed at creating new trends. This would not be so
detrimental, if only they would realize that different art forms have to
exist next to each other in order to stimulate and nourish each other. Letting
the artists determine their development themselves seems to be too much to
ask.
ArtRadius, a global initiative, set up and supported by artists, will give
the wheel back to the artists - therefore seemingly forgotten movements in
art will be re-established and put back in the footlight.
The development of art is parallel not serial.
Therefore we aim to aim the spotlight at a development which did not only
start during the Russian Revolution or the Stijl, but has been going on much
longer; already in the renaissance artists were searching for a pragmatic,
as well as scientific, approach to bypass emotional target practice. So
constructivists were not only the men and women in the first decennium of
the twentieth century. The development of art has broadened our scope since
the
renaissance.
MINUS SPACE, an online initiative presenting the best reductive,
concept-based art, formulates it very concisely:
"Reductive, concept-based work is generally characterized by its use of
plainspoken materials, monochromatic or limited color, geometry and pattern,
repetition and seriality, precise craftsmanship, and intellectual rigor."