The classification provides four or more codes placed on four axis (A - formalism, B - matériality, C - involvement body/mind, D - communication). These codes are positionning the artist in the art history.
A axis : FORMALISM
When looking at the work, what type of formalisation first strikes the eye? Is it more abstract or more figurative, etc ? (on a scale from more "immaterial" to more "realist").A200 : Abstracts not constructed / informal Action Painting
from the most "Lyrical" to something aproaching handwriting, gesture as the bringing out of what is inside, a thing in its own right, or an attempt to communicate (Hans Hartung, Franz Kline, Georges Mathieu, Jean Messagier, …). A210 : Abstracts with signs
The work as a whole remains abstract but includes (or consists entirely of): signs forming writing: writing without meaning
the sign as an abstract shape placed in the composition of the pictorial space (R.Motherwell, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Christian Dotremont, Cy Twombly, ...).
B axis : MATERIALITY
How does the materiality of what is shown come across?
(on a scale from more "immaterial" to more "real").B130 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: unstructured slight materiality
colours and material are more or less understated, diluted, evanescent, playing with their transparence (Zao Wou Ki, Olivier Debré, …). B140 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: unstructured with colours predominant
by their intrinsic strength (Mondrian, ... ) or their historic and social symbolism (El Lissitzky, ...), etc., the colours are the most important thing here. B180 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: mixed materiality: structured / unstructured
when a work is "structured" in its "lack of structure", and vice versa (repetition of forms, signs, matter ... Viallat, Toroni, Degottex, Hantaï,...).
C axis : INVOLVEMENT BODY/ MIND
With what body:mind ratio does the artist enter into his work?
Classify from the most "intellectual" (e.g."Concept Art"...) to the most "physical" (e.g. "Body Art", ...).C130 : towards the intellectual side/ the essence of things inward looking work chiefly oriented towards: l'introspective
inner landscapes, emotions, feelings (Arpad Szenes, ...), serenity (Yves Klein's "Monochromes", ...), equilibrium ("mandalas" of Augustin Lesage or Adolf Wölfli, ...), memory (Boltenski "boxes", ...). C190 : tending towards the corporeal / the senses the work as the result of an action gestural
the work as the result of a bodily movement, chiefly a hand movement: from Jackson Pollock's "Dripping" to Georges Mathieu's "Lyrical Abstraction", L. Fontana's "perforations" to the flayed figures of V. Vélickovic.
D axis : COMMUNICATION
Does the artist have the deliberate intention to convey a message of any sort through his work?
(classified from the most "mystical" to the most "worldly").D110 : via what is meant with various spiritual or less marked religious influences
(from Barnett Newman to Mark Rothko, from Roman Opalka to Arnulf Rainer, ...).
LEVY Danielle Marie
https://www.danielle-marie-levy.com |
