At the new art exhibit “Excessive Obsession” at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, a sign within the gallery describes the minimalist collection as “seemingly empty of intimacy or personal attachments … pictorial and urban scenes, figure and still life studies are nowhere to be found in these abstract and minimal obsessions.”
This disclaimer, though jarring at first, honestly and frankly describes what this unique art expresses.
The minimalist movement started around the 1960s, though earlier minimalist characteristics appeared in literary works such as those of Ernest Hemingway.
Art forms generally feature geometric shapes, equal parts, repetition, neutral surface or backdrop, industrial materials and are made with varying mediums like paint, print and sculpture.
Debbie Williamson-Smith, the communications manager for the museum, describes the art as “the simplification of form and color … I’m naturally drawn to it.”
At the “Excessive Obsession” exhibit, several mediums and examples of minimalist art are on display. The mediums range from wood to sculpture, and from painting to gelatin paper.
The artists on display also range widely from the well-known artist Andy Warhol to the recent work of minimalist artist and unique sculptor Gay Outlaw.
“(The gallery) is a nice representation of artists from the U.S. and Pacific Northwest,” Williamson-Smith said.
The exhibit was inspired by a gift of Jordan Schnitzer, the lithograph “Purple/Red/Gray/Orange ed. 16/18, 1988” by Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923).
The art piece, like all the others, is starkly literal and minimal in its presentation. It is four geometric pieces in purple, red, gray and orange on a large backdrop of off-white.
The simplicity lends itself to wide interpretation by viewers, which may or may not be appealing to everyone.
According to Lawrence Fong, the curator of American and regional art for the museum, the minimal and abstract expressions are meant to call attention to the artists’ inventiveness and attention to detail.
Another untitled piece by artist Florence Pierce forces viewers to focus on the detail behind its simple surface. The piece is a medium-sized square, which looks almost like a bathroom tile, but the materials used to make it­ — resin mixed with pigment over a square plexiglass — reflect the light with hundreds of beams of sunlight.
Other pieces that are meant to be thought provoking have less visual and mental impact, such as the piece “Untitled; 1986” by Donald Judd . The piece is three long rectangles of plexiglass, aluminum and enamel, which is meant to provoke, as it describes, “real illusions,” but upon further glance looks simply like a toaster or a wall behind a stove.
But the exhibit is a modern contrast to the classic, mainstream art that is on display elsewhere at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum, and, despite some oddities, is a great collection and introduction to minimalist art.
“It’s a happy show,” Williamson-Smith said. “It beautifully represents the minimalist movement.”
The gallery will be on display from now until July 2011, and art pieces will rotate every few months.
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