Reflective Log/ Research: Beyond Modern Sculpture by Jack Burnham

Jack Burnham, Beyond Modern Sculpture (New York: George Braziller, 1975)

Key Points and Reflection:

Introduction:

• "Sculpture was concieved as an art of solid form, of mass, and its virtues were related to spacial occupancy." - Herbert Read (1964, p.250) (p1). 
• Initially we understand sculpture's intentions as this solid art form with concerns to space. As this book was written in 1975, I think sculpture today is more concerned with space than ever, and artists have really worked to manipulate the connection with object and space, like Anish Kapoor for example. 

• The book begins with an introduction stating how for nearly 24 centuries, 'the beauty and potency of sculpture was connected with an obsession for the free-standing human form and its life-emitting properties'.... and explains how now modern sculpture has 'just barely preserved the prime attribute of palpable form: it remains a class of visible objects mirroring the process of psychic disbelief in its own being'. p.1. 

• The book states that "three-dimesional art has embarked upon a course which could make it totally unrelated - both materially and psychically - to the functions of all past sculpture."p.1-2. 
• This could be because of capitalism influence over art? 

• The book investigates whether technology has a bearing on what sculpture is produced. 

• "Abstraction, moreover, was an artistic phenomenon particularly appearing when a culture was confronted with existential doubt." p.3.  

Chapter 1: Sculptures vanishing base

• "The base is the sculptor's convention for rooting his art to surrounding reality while permitting it to stand apart. ... It says, in effect, that this sculpted object has a life, a "presence" of its own." p.19. 
• I really like this point about what the base does for the sculpture in the classic sense, and how it gives the sculpture some autonomy in the world. It is true still in contemporary art today, with artists like Tony Cragg still giving his sculpture a small base in some of his works, yet some of his works have no base at all. 

Tony Cragg, Skull, 2016

Tony Cragg, Points of View, Dimension: 450x95x95 each, Material: wood, Date: 2015

• In some of Craggs work, Elliptical Column for example, the base has completely vanished, perhaps the sculpture and base have merged together. 

Spring, Dimension: 280x74x232, Material: wood, Date: 2015

• In Craggs sculpture above titled Spring, the base has been flattened to become a tiny base, but  a base none the less. The base here still raises the sculpture to an elevated level. 

• The book states that,"the destruction or withering away of the base is very much a part of the "secularization" of sculpture". p.20. 

Chapter 7 - Light as Sculpture Medium

• "For hundreds of years painters have been most sensitive to the effects of reflected and radiant light. With growing sophistication, artists have analyzed and reinterpreted every aspect of indoor and outdoor illumination for the canvas." p.286. 
• I have become increasingly concerned with how light affects the artwork, and how it can cause more reflections in the material of stainless steel for example, but also capturing these light reflections in painting too. 

Conclusion

• The concluding chapter argues that perhaps art, or sculpture is more than just an art. It could be mans 'biological signal' for evolution, questioning why out culture began to carve life sized representations of themselves and invent mechanical replicas. p.373-374. 

• "...it may be that culture is fundamentally a means for implementing qualitative transformations of man's biological status. Art, then, and the whole image-making drive may be means for preparing man for physical and mental changes which he will in time make upon himself. Sculpture, functioning so, becomes a kind of psychical radar signal preparing the human race thousands of years in advance."p.373. 
• I think this approach to art is something that I was trying to perhaps get at in my previous critical report last term, where I refer to art has having a higher purpose or spiritual purpose. 
• It's a very interesting point as it widens the theory on why we make art and arts and cultures purpose. 

• "In the recent past we have satisfied ourselves with the tautology: art for arts sake. By default one could illuminate the subject by hazarding another tautology: art is what we do when we expend great time, care, and patience on an activity without knowing why."