Art & Language

Painting and Sculpture

1966

Werk - Painting and Sculpture
Artist / Artist group
Art & Language
Title
Painting and Sculpture
Year
1966
Category
painting, Acrylic painting
Material / Technique
plywood, wood, acrylic, 2-part
Dimensions / Duration
73,2 x 37,6 x 3,7 cm each
Collection
ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
Description

Painting vs. sculpture - What already provided material for discussion in the 15th century as the 'paragone', the 'weather dispute of the arts', between painting and sculpture, finds its elaborate update in »Painting-Sculpture«. For if you look at the work of the artist group Art & Language, you find yourself in a dilemma: two identical grey wooden panels (signed by Terry Atkinson and Michael Baldwin) hang next to each other, one bearing the inscription 'Painting', the other 'Sculpture'. So is the artwork a painting or a sculpture? Each of the two sides claims the truth for itself and asks the visitors to make a judgement. However, this seems impossible, as the traditional boundaries of genre become visibly blurred during the viewing process.

"Playing with language in relation to the painting tradition also means adopting a legacy of meaningful descriptions." (M. Ramsden, Art & Language, 2003). With precisely this irritating interplay of inscription and description in "Painting-Sculpture", Art & Language deconstructs the classical art genres and thus joins the self-reflexive conceptual art of the 1960s.

Author: Julia Ihls

About the artist/s