Form and Content: a Deconstruction of the Contemporary Cube Extended Essay Alicia Clooney In partial fulfilment of the Limerick School of Art and Design, Limerick Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Sculpture and Combined Media 2020 Abstract The cube as a device of sculptural language is discussed in relation to both form and content through 1960’s Minimalism and extending into contemporary practice. The aim of this discussion is to establish the formal functions of the cube as an embodiment of order and objectivity, resulting in the depersonalisation of the form. Through an analysis of works by Eva Hesse, this essay constructs an understanding of the cube, in the Post-Minimalist era, as a renewed framing site for issues of the self; mind and body. Works by Mona Hatoum will be used to extend this discussion towards the contemporary cube, outlining the role of interior and exterior relationships as an essential component in the cubes functional transition. Contents Figures List…………………………………………..………………………p.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..p.2 Minimalism as a Strict Parameter……………………………………………p.3 The Formal Cube; Functionality and Perception…………………………….p.8 Towards Interior; The Post-Minimalist Cubes of Eva Hesse……………....p.13 Entry and Exile; Soto and Hatoum in Dialogue with the Body…………….p.20 Internal/External Distinction and the Non-Physical cube………………….p.27 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….....p.30 Reference List………………………………………………………………p.31 Bibliography……………………………………………………………..…p.34 Figures List Figure 1. Berecz, Á. (2020). Little Sister. [online] Guggenheim. Available at: ​ ​ https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/5653 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020]. Figure 2. Tate. (2004). ‘Untitled’, Robert Morris, 1965, reconstructed 1971 | ​ Tate. [online] Available at: ​ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morris-untitled-t01532 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020]. Figure 3. Swartz, A. (1997). Accession II: Eva Hesse's Response to Minimalism. Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts,, 71(1/2), ​ ​ Figure 4. Publicdelivery.org. (2019). What are Jesús Rafael Soto's ​ Pénétrables?. [online] Available at: ​ https://publicdelivery.org/jesus-rafael-soto-penetrables/#Who_was_Jesus_Rafa el [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020]. Figure 5. Hinkson, L. (2020). Impenetrable. [online] Guggenheim. Available ​ ​ at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/30304 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020] 1 Introduction The cube, an equal sided, three-dimensional form, is referenced throughout art history as an embodiment of geometric precision. Used as both method and motif, it has been countlessly recycled at the hands of artists and designers. In the early 20th century the cube is found at the heart of abstraction as Picasso and Braque develop the Cubist movement and is constructed and reconfigured in the grid like paintings of Piet Mondrian. Later in the 1960’s the resilient form becomes key to the development of sculptures formal language as it is explored and interrogated for its physical properties through the practice of Minimalism. Throughout the following discussion, the Minimalist language and its directed focus towards physical actuality, will be used as a lens to examine the functions of the cube as a sculptural device. The aim of this discussion is to establish a foundational understanding of the cube as operating with such structural efficiency that it has been described as being to sculpture, what grammar is to language (Batchelor, 2004). The value of its symmetry, its decisive fabrication and its relevance to the visual principles of Gestalt theory will all be examined as supporting this claim, made in relation to Minimalist sculpture of the 60’s. The cube will then transition towards a contemporary practice through the works of Eva Hesse, Jesús Rafael Soto and finally, Mona Hatoum. Hesse’s work, commonly termed as Post-Minimalist, opens up the formal cube to its translation as a vessel or box. Soto, also working within the Post-Minimalist sphere, introduces the viewers body physically to this containing space with his ‘Penetrables’ series. In the context of this essay, ​ ​ these works function to bridges the discussion of the cube between Hesse and 2 Hatoum as the viewers body gradually emerges as an important point of navigation. The cube’s transition towards its contemporary understanding is analysed through a focus on the physical and metaphorical implications of interior and exterior values. The strict parameters are deconstructed and the form becomes a framing site for each artist’s personal expressions of mind and body within the now reciprocal vessel. Minimalism as a Strict Parameter To firstly understand the cubes functionality as a formal device, the Minimalist environment from which it emerged will be briefly outlined. Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Robert Morris are the primary artists to which the first definitive works of Minimalist art are attributed (Batchelor, 2004). Despite rejecting that they participated in one specific movement, their concerns were largely sympathetic to each other and more initially obvious, their work appeared to be embodying one aesthetic. However, key to the framing of Minimalist artworks is an awareness that despite the repeated clean and geometric appearance, this was not an expression of a pre-determine style but an engagement with a highly logicised, conceptual practice that would prove to have lasting impact on the progress of fine art. They replaced self-expression, emotion and representation with structure, system and an overall objectivity which eliminated the artist’s physical and emotional presence from the work. The objects produced were not intended to refer back to the artist, or even back to aspects of the human condition like the preceding 3 Abstract Expressionists who explored their mediums as sensational, extended gestures of the body (Golub, 1955). Instead LeWitt, Judd, Morris and others began to view their works strictly respective to their material surfaces and their occupation of space as affecting the room and the viewer. In other words, they were concerned only with physical reality and not with metaphor; the form became the content. This negation of emotional or biographical connection from the artists meant the works created were not termed in the traditional fashion as sculptures and paintings, a work of Minimalist art is referred to as an object or for Judd and LeWitt simply as structures (Batchelor, 2004). This non-conventional ascribing of the works identity does not only function to differentiate it from previous movements and methods but also aids in focusing the language around Minimalism and its analysis towards its spatial and perceptual functionality and not its creative or aesthetic innovations. The terminology was also reinforced by their production process, which was decidedly one of construction and not evolution. The materials of choice were industrial - plywood, metal sheeting and fluorescent tubes - sourced from standard building suppliers and not from art supply shops. The materials would rarely be interfered with past a coating of acrylic paint and so this led to a uniformity in surface finish that became recognisable as distinctly Minimalistic; flat, undecorated and anonymous. The materials, with their hard and un-pliable qualities, intrinsically lent themselves to the kind of decisive construction that eliminated interpretive manipulation and produced clean, 4 linear forms (Karmel, 2012). The creative process became systemised and logicised in order to allow for a level of experimentation and development that would be sympathetic to the material and importantly not to the makers physical or emotional experience. Linearity, the grid, repetition and modular units became the central focus from which deviation and variability could be tested. These systems all served to keep the parameters of creativity within the conscious as they require a coherent and rational engagement and disallow the involvement of a subjective and interfering subconscious. These systems, with their inherent geometric nature, also functioned to dispel organic or anthropomorphic associations in the finished form of the Minimalist objects. This can be largely attributed to the symmetry of the objects as it brings with it a level of precision and rigour that is distinctly un-bodily. The Grid, a prominent motif in Minimalist art for its perfect right angles, repetition and endless possibility to expand found itself as the focus of Agnes Martin’s life work and was continuously reiterated in three dimensions as the open cube structures explored by Sol LeWitt. 5 Figure 1. Little Sister, Agnes Martin, 1962, Oil, ink, and brass nails on canvas ​ ​ over wood, 25.1 x 24.6 cm (Berecz, 2020). 6 The configuration of the grid is a perfect example of maintaining objective symmetry and system as it largely dictates itself, literally drawing out strict parameters within which experimentation can take place. Speaking of Grids extensively in her 1979 essay simply, and aptly titled ‘Grids’ Krauss deems it “what happens when art turns its back on nature” (Krauss, 1979). In other words, these symmetrical pictorial planes and objects can be recognised as constructed, fabricated and systemised and not in any way organically developed in terms of both their physical manifestation and their conceptualisation. For Robert Morris’ the importance of this symmetry and order could also be afforded to the visual principles of Gestalt Theory. As highlighted in his seminal essays ‘Notes on Sculpture’, now considered