AHIS BC 3626y Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Abstract Expressionism, Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel
25 Aug 2016
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January 21st, 2016
Abstract Expressionism: Soviet Avante Garde
Signs:
• Sign: two parts, one of which is a material component. When combined with
the second part, the concept, you come up with a sign.
o The signifier SR + the signified SD = Sign
• Metonym: you a take a part in order to make a whole
o Ex. I have some wheels wheels connote a car
o The signifier connotes the signified
• This is a shift from a specific to a general, and its in that process of
translation that we have representation
• This is the traditional trope of art
• A realist painting is something connoting something real. It’s a figurative
jump
• What happens if you take away that jump? What if you only emphasize the
material element?
• You are not longer showing a representation but the actual material element
for the sake of fact, and eliminating fiction.
• The Black Square is an example of pure signifier.
Marcel Duchamp:
• Bicycle Wheel, and Fountain both demonstrate the
use of sign to try and force the viewer to accept the
move from denotation to connotation, and dares
them to move to connotation.
• It is difficult for many to get beyond the denotation
to the connotation.
• This string of representation asks us to question
the automatic links we make
***
Soviet Art:
• Post revolution Soviet Union was a massive paradigm shift with the new
freedom of the proletariat
• Artists were now asking where their place was, and how to devise a new
visual language given the new historical context
• What is the proper role of the artist in this new revolutionary society?
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Signs: sign: two parts, one of which is a material component. What if you only emphasize the jump material element: you are not longer showing a representation but the actual material element for the sake of fact, and eliminating fiction, the black square is an example of pure signifier. Marcel duchamp: bicycle wheel, and fountain both demonstrate the use of sign to try and force the viewer to accept the move from denotation to connotation, and dares them to move to connotation. It is difficult for many to get beyond the denotation to the connotation: this string of representation asks us to question the automatic links we make. Academy became counter-revolutionary (emphasized tradition and the old: kandinski tried to keep the academy going but then was ejected by 1921, aleksandr rodchenko and varvara stepanova would develop the moscow. Okmokhu exhibition: a collective organized by rodshenko (cid:498)the society of young artists(cid:499) in may, exhibited a number of suspended.
