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").A190 : Abstracts not constructed / informal mixed (between "Matter informalist", "Tachism" and "Action Painting" (Willem De Kooning, Clifford Still, Antoni Tapiès, Bengt Lindström, Riopelle, Olivier Debré, ...). A240 : Allusive inclusion of figures (or real objects ) in the abstract More or less realistic figurative elements, more or less important but not going beyond details in a predominantly abstract work (Fernand Léger, Jan Voss, Antoni Tàpies, W. De Kooning, the "Combine Paintings" of R.Rauschenberg, ...).
B axis : MATERIALITY How does the materiality of what is shown come across? (on a scale from more "immaterial" to more "real").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", ...).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. 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", ...).
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, ...). D130 : via what is meaningful based on the idea that work on what symbolizes forms an intentional message in itself (for example: Daniel Dezeuze's "Stretchers", etc., etc., ...). by variations in execution seriality, multiplication (Claude Viallat, Niele Toroni, "figurines" by Antony Gormley, ...), accumulation or compression (J. Chamberlain, Arman, César, ...), subtleties and variability of the material (Rober Ryman's "Whites"; dissolutions of "matter / life" by Roman Opalka or by On Kawara; Gilberto Zorio, ...). MOUREY Marie-Christine https://www.marie-christine-mourey.com |