MODELS OF ABSTRACTION

Credit Hours: 3 · Graduate

How do abstract painting, sculpture, textiles, and other art forms produce meaning? How can we understand this meaning as both product and critique of the social, political, and economic fields in which such works are made? How do the particularities of matter and process take on new importance in abstract practice? This class will address these and other questions by exploring a range of works by artists from both indigenous and avant-garde traditions, including Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Lygia Clark, Frank Bowling, and others. We’ll spend much of our time thinking about these artists in local museum collections, examining their works firsthand. Graduate students will have 50-100 pages of extra weekly reading, write a final essay of 25-30 pages, and deliver at least one 20-minute research presentation. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HART 451 . Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HART 551 if student has credit for HART 451 .