"The New Brutalists" Exhibiition
Parallel Art Space
This event has ended.
Brutalism is an architectural term used to describe a style and a construction ideology prevalent from the mid 50’s through the early 80’s, wherein certain general descriptors would apply; from Reyner Banham’s 1955 essay “The New Brutalism” – a “legibility of plan / clear exhibition of structure “ and “valuation of materials for their inherent qualities …” or “visible pipes and conduits” and “honest use of materials”. Exposed concrete, unadorned exteriors, steel, glass and an exposure of the buildings intended services (i.e. elevators, stairs) became the easy markers of this architectural style, which quickly became synonymous with the large civic and institutional constructions of that day. Deeper than just a style however, Brutalism, at its best, was an ethical stance of allowance, of letting the materials simply “be” and unabashedly asserting the inherent integrity and value of form as well as function.
It is this quality, in stance and approach toward their craft, that the artists in The New Brutalists share with their architectural antecedents. In the past, analogies were drawn, in some ways fallaciously, from the architectural movement of Brutalism to the movements of Art Brut and Arte Povera. While some parallel sensitivities do exist, the tenets of architectural Brutalism had little in common with the assumed naiveté or “primitivism” of Art Brut nor the socio-political aspirations and “poor art” concerns of Arte Povera. Instead, the dictates of honesty of form, integrity of material, and transparency of execution were what informed and guided the architects of that period, just as these principles in some way inform, in ways direct or circuitous, the endeavors of the artists in this show.
Though the artists in The New Brutalists employ these ethos to their own particular ends (which in many ways exceed the considerations of this show), the commonality of a shared interest in honoring and exploring the materiality of their chosen art components as well as inhabiting fully the processes required for their arts consummation is what marks them as related to, and unifiable under, the general descriptor “Brutalist”.
Media
Schedule
from October 20, 2012 to November 18, 2012
Opening Reception on 2012-10-20 from 18:00 to 21:00