Cartoon and the Cult of Reduction
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Forced Perspectives: Cartoon and The Cult Of Reduction MARTINE LISA COROMPT Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (by creative work and dissertation) August 2016 School of Art Faculty Of The Victorian College Of The Arts The University of Melbourne 2 FIG 1 Corompt, Martine Torrent – the endless storm 2015 still from the digital animation 3 4 ABSTRACT Summary Commencing with caricature and reductive imaging techniques, this research explores parallel tendencies evident within broader culture. The thesis argues this reductive predisposition became broader and more prominent during Modernism, the digital revolution of the 1990s, and is strongly manifest within various aspects of contemporary art and culture. Theorized as the ‘Cult of Reduction’ this tendency is both a cultural condition, and a studio methodology employed to create two dimensional projected animation and digital prints. Abstract Beginning with pictorial caricature as a historical predecessor to animation, the research attempted to find in caricature a meaningful methodology to provide a framework for two-dimensional animation. Incorporating digital processes with drawing and installation, reduction was understood and examined pictorially, temporally and materially. The thesis project considered caricature as a means of exploring pictorial representation as reduction, but soon recognized reduction had more broad implications, and parallel examples were discovered in areas such as economics, ecology lifestyle ideologies, as well as Fine art and design. While pictorial reduction was most obvious within Modernism, it also was resonant in less obvious ways within the digital art revolution of the 1990’s. It has been prevalent again in contemporary art as a ‘reductivist practice’ recognized by Mike Kelley’s essay ‘Foul Perfection: Thoughts on Caricature’ (1989). Kelley’s essay provided an alternative framework for considering caricature and a recognition of the continuing practice of reduction in contemporary art. More broadly, reduction may also be recognized in areas as diverse as industrial processes, economic theories, personal 5 development, and many others. I have theorized this broader tendency as ‘The Cult of Reduction.’ The main focus of the visual research was realized through animated projections, sometimes situated in gallery spaces but also, more commonly in public spaces. There is also a collaborative relationship with many of the works with the addition of sound. Broadly speaking, this research attempted to highlight the missing contribution that the role of animation plays in the history of modernist contemporary art. I agree that this genre of moving image practice, has for pragmatic and cultural reasons, remained sidelined in serious critical regard by more dominant practices such as film or video. As a result, the research for this thesis is dependent on the contributions of both popular culture (animation and the cartoon) and fine art. The thesis recognizes the parallel circumstances of both mainstream and experimental animation, though traditionally ideologically opposed, are both important in shaping contemporary animation practice. While the research project is practice-based, a significant component of the research includes the historical analysis of particular technologies and forms of entertainment that sit outside the framework of fine art discourse. The Cult of Reduction positions itself between several discourses, and identifies a linking thread between them. 6 DECLARATION This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis 44,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices Martine Lisa Corompt 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank; Dr. Stephen Haley, Associate Professor Barbara Bolt, Lou Hubbard, Vikki McInnes, Scott Miles, Dr. David Sequeira, Camilla Hannan, Philip Brophy, Dr. Darren Tofts, Dr. Greg Creek, Professor Julian Goddard, Karra Rees and staff from the Contemporary Centre for Photography. Thanks to all my family and friends for enduring my absence over the last 6 years, my partner Dr. Ian Haig (who completed his PhD ahead of time) and especially my dearest Violet who was three when I began this seemingly endless journey. Funding support: Faculty Small Grant Scheme, City of Yarra, RMIT Staff Development, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Festival. 8 CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................. 5 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 5 Declaration ............................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 8 Contents ................................................................................................................. 9 Table of Figures ................................................................................................... 11 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1: From caricature to reduction ............................................................ 22 It began with caricature .................................................................................................. 22 Cartoon or caricature – finding a definition ................................................................... 28 On wit and humour ........................................................................................................ 34 Gloves and Tachistoscopes – a quick detour .................................................................. 35 Exploring Reduction ....................................................................................................... 41 Modernism, reduction, essence and Fine Art ................................................................. 45 Modernism, industrial reduction and mainstream animation ........................................ 49 Digital Reduction ............................................................................................................ 57 Reduction as a general social condition .......................................................................... 59 The Cult of reduction as a methodology ........................................................................ 61 Chapter 2: Dimensional reduction ...................................................................... 64 On being flat ................................................................................................................... 65 Subject 1 – Weeding ....................................................................................................... 69 Ad Reinhardt – an encounter with flatness ..................................................................... 72 The cult of projection and dimensional reduction .......................................................... 77 Subject 2 - water, wasting and saving ............................................................................. 81 Chroma-deficiency, Black White and Yellow ................................................................. 88 9 Colouring in .................................................................................................................... 99 Cartoons – figurative flatness ........................................................................................ 102 Subject 3 - Reduced to Rubble ..................................................................................... 107 Chapter 3- Temporal Reduction ....................................................................... 114 Everything takes too long .............................................................................................. 115 Animation looping – a method of efficiency ................................................................. 118 The Loop as a modular building block: ........................................................................ 118 Looping in the gallery ................................................................................................... 123 Kipple Institute – the efficiency of didactic animation ................................................. 127 Reduction and the Tachistoscopic Flash: ..................................................................... 131 Roundabout projections – reduced viewing ................................................................. 142 Chapter 4: Material Reduction .......................................................................... 145 Digital size - does size really matter? (or is size really matter?) ................................. 146 The Cubicle project - portability, and play ................................................................... 150 Toys, play and the reduction of adulthood ................................................................... 159 The Jevons Paradox, and the dilemma of efficiency ..................................................... 161 Chapter 5: The cult of reduction,