Review

Review

The Energy and Process exhibition, on level 4 room 3 at the Tate Modern is centred on the radical art movement Arte Povera. It took place in Italy during the 1960s to 1970s. The term was coined by Italian art critic Germano Celant. The exhibition contains sculptures that emphasises on process and explore nature’s energies. Their work rejects the shapes of industrial materials and smooth sleek forms. The sculptors explore simple and raw materials from our everyday life. The exhibition also enables to draw attention to the audience with the gallery space, such as the tremendously high ceiling. The room is curated by Mark Godfey and Helen Sainsbury. 

In Robert Morris’s Untitled, 1967-8 remade 2008, he brought rectangular sheets of industrial felts, which he cuts into straight lines. When the strips are left alone, they would fall from its weight. Morris questioned the Minimalism movement with their fixed geometric forms, so he allowed his work to take control to determine its appearance. In 2008 an interview with Simon Grant, Morris said ‘I wanted to work in a way that would subvert a priori intentions. I wanted to find a way to generate unpredictable, indeterminate consequences.’ This meaning every time he displays this work, the arrangement changes. 

Fig. 1 Robert Morris, Untitled, 1967-8 remade 2008

I was in awe when I first entered the exhibition. There is a diverse range of sculptures and with the way they are displayed in the gallery. There are long wooden planks leaning against the wall to stand; sculptures that reach up to the ceiling and what seems like a melted form displayed in the corner of the room. You have to be very active with the sculptures where you have to look high up or down below on the floor, or even across the room or around the art piece. It does mean that it requires viewers to be opened minded when viewing the works. There are very different sculptures and may be unusual to spectators. 

I see the connection in interests with making things using ordinary materials. Also, the different forms they make are very inspirational. Their sculptures are concerned with exploring changing physical states than representing forms around us. This is something that I would like to challenge in the near future.

Bibliography

Exhibition visit 

Tate Modern  07:10:13

Websites 

Tate. (2013) Art and artists: Artworks. Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks?rid=5636&ws=date&wv=grid (Accessed 07/10/13)

Tate. (2013) Arte Povera and Anti-Form. Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/arte-povera-and-anti-form (Accessed 07/10/13)  

Grant, Simon and Morris, Robert. (2008) Simon Grant interviews Robert Morris. Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/simon-grant-interviews-robert-morris (Accessed 12/10/13)

Images

Fig. 1 Robert Morris, Untitled, 1967-8, remade 2008 (Author’s own 07/10/13)