Minimalism
What is minimalism?
Minimalism is a movement that, instead of expressing emotion or telling stories, focuses on the most basic things: shape, colour, material and space. The works are characterised by geometric simplicity, the use of industrial materials and often the repetition of identical elements. Its central subject is space and its continuity, addressed through constructive arrangements of basic units, so that the work pretends to nothing — it simply is.
When and where did minimalism come about?
It was born in sculpture in the 1960s in the USA and was in its way a response to the turbulent chaos of abstract expressionism, against whose gestural passion it set calm and order. It loosely follows on from Duchamp's ready-made gesture (the use of ordinary or industrial materials), but builds its formal language mainly on geometric abstraction and constructivism, not on conceptual art. In time minimalism influenced not only the visual arts but architecture and design, which we still encounter today.
Who are the main minimalists?
Internationally the key names are Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Carl Andre — artists who showed that a brick or a fluorescent tube can be an artwork. On the border between minimalism and conceptual art stands Sol LeWitt, with whom even a mere instruction for execution becomes the work. Here at home, minimalism includes Hugo Demartini, Zdeněk Sýkora and Stanislav Kolíbal. Unlike their American colleagues, Czech artists often brought to it more humanity, spirituality and philosophical undertone.
How does minimalism do on the art market?
On the market minimalism holds a stable, firm position, connected with the fact that its artists are among the essential names of post-war art. Collecting such works does presuppose a certain trust in the idea, though: anyone expecting a colourful story may at first be taken aback by the geometric austerity. Yet that is precisely where its value lies — minimalism does not age with fashion, but stays clean and timeless.
— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club