For

Senior Years students

Curriculum

VCE Art

Think About

Art works can provoke many different responses in an audience. Artists often create artworks in order to make us question or think about the validity of that type of art. It is important that we are able to discuss and raise issues and ideas that could be part of an artwork.

Aim

To reflect and respond to commentaries in art.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

• Read the information for Theme Four – The 1960s and 1970s: Minimalism, Post-Minimalism and Conceptual Art.
• View the work either online or in the exhibition.
• Research through the library or Internet.

Individual Task

Prepare a written response to Judd's Untitled 1971. Do you think this sculpture is a valid form of art? Give reasons for your point of view. In your response, refer to ideas raised in the commentaries below.

Commentary 1

Wow! They are fantastic! There is a wonderful order and simplicity to these boxes. The colour is strong and dynamic. You walk around and you feel a strong presence. It is like they belong to the room. They don’t look like other sculptures, but that is what I like about this type of art work. You feel all these things without the artists stuffing it down your throat. When you see it and feel it, you just get it!
Miss Reely Loveit
Convinced Town, NSW

Commentary 2

What! He doesn’t even make the sculptures himself? What kind of art is that? He has the gall to have some other bloke make the boxes and then he puts them in a gallery, and we all have to say that this is art? Then, he calls it Untitled, February 22, 1971! Does that mean that he has reduced art so much that he cannot even give it a proper name? I suppose that means every object that we see can be art, we just have to put it into a gallery!
Mr. Skep.T. Gill
Unbelievable Gully, VIC

Commentary 3

This minimalist sculpture is really thought provoking. It seems that the artist is trying to condense every thing to really basic shapes and materials. Is he trying to comment on how society has completely lost track of the important things in life? Or is it just a formal proposal?
Mr. Steel Thinken
Unresolved Province, QLD