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    Process Art (and Earthworks catchup)

    Key decade: 1970s

    Tterms: Process, Anti-Form, Eccentric Abstraction

    1. Emerging from Minimalism, Performance, Earthworks
    2. Male Practitioners (Pollock legatees): Process, Anti-form
      1. Smithson, De Maria et al.
      2. Serra, Morris, other Minimalists (Morris "Continuous Project Altered Daily," 1969)
      3. followers: Barry Le Va, Keith Sonnier, Alan Saret
      4. inspirers: Gordon Matta-Clark (Food, "Anarchitecture," "Fake Estates")
    3. Women: (organic materials) "Eccentric Abstractionists"
      1. Lynda Benglis (also video works, gender theater)
      2. Eva Hesse
      3. Jackie Winsor

    Slide List

    Serra Tearing Lead from 1:00 to 1:47 1968
    Matta-Clark Graffiti Truck 1973
    Matta-Clark Splitting 1974
    Matta-Clark Conical Intersect 1975
    Matta-Clark Day's End 1975
    Benglis For Carl Andre 1970
    Benglis Wing Piece 1975
    Benglis Heraklion 1978
    Hesse Laocoön 1966
    Hesse Rope Piece 1970
    Winsor Bound Square 1972
    Winsor Exploded Piece 1980

    Serra, Tearing Lead from 1:00 to 1:47, 1968
    Morris, Continuous Project Altered Daily, 1969
    Matta-Clark, Splitting, 1974
    Matta-Clark, Day's End, 1975

    Process art was influenced by Minimalism's search for "the basics" and by Performance art's emphasis on actions. Serra's sculpture "verbs" (casting, tearing, catching) reduced sculpture to a process engaged by a person on a material. Morris presented an installation of a de-installation of various materials, and Matta-Clark conducted adventurous (and sometimes illegal) deconstructions of the built environment.

    "Eccentric Abstractions"

    Morris, Red Felt, 1970
    Hesse, Untitled (Rope Piece), 1970
    Benglis, Corner Painting, 1969
    Winsor, Bound Grid, 1971
    Hesse, Ishtar, 1965

    Process art began to manifest a new tendency toward irregular forms and non-geometric abstraction. Male practitioners tended to produce geometric cuts, even in soft materials, but women began to build up forms from those soft materials themselves. Compare Hesse's constructions and amorphous webs to Morris's slit felt -- what kinds of gendered assumptions were made about these works? Were women conscious of (and exploiting) these differences or was it that they "couldn't help but express their essence"?