Do you question the necessity of piano or violin? There are many types of reproduction of sounds similar to the sounds of a piano or violin. But does it turn out the same as when using the original instruments? What does the original mean here? The piano sound is unique, and any reproduction of a similar sound will be different. It will not be better or worse, it will be simply different.
The brush in art is something similar. It was an integral part of the creative process for many years until the artistic mind began to expand the boundaries of pictorial art.
For instance, Jackson Pollock by Hans Namuth made a performance out of a painting.
Janine Antoni used her body as a tool, so she used her hairs as a brush.
And so on till (at least till this time) the artist Keith Boadwee, who is creating anal excretory paintings.
Keith Boadwee. Sunflower Squirt 1998|2014 [Photography] At: https://keithboadwee.com/artwork/3522638-Sunflower-Squirt-1998.html (Accessed 03.02.2021)
In society, there must be someone or something to challenge the facets of the rational. This would clarify the understanding of what pure reason is and the value of beauty for a person.
"During World War II, control over artistic expression in Japan was strict. Military rule permitted only paintings that glorified the war effort, and art supplies were difficult to obtain. Gutai arose from this context, and in opposition to it. In the postwar years, Gutai emphasized the importance of originality." (Guggenheim Museum, 2013, online)
“Paint does not start to live until it is liberated from the brush,” writes one of the founders of the Gutai Group Shozo Shimamoto in 1957.
In other words, radical experiments with colour, brush, mediums and etc. arise when protest set in. Janine Antoni opposed Yves Klein's position (rather than to paint the model, better to paint with a model), she wanted to be both a model and a creator in one. Keith Boadwee is looking for an explanation of his unconventional sexuality and, perhaps, rejection of this aspect by society. Shimamoto protested the restrictions in the country and the arts.
What can an artist resist now?
The worldwide Lockdown and global relocation to another planet (in Skype / Zoom / Internet/ etc.). It is essential to understand the meaning of the brush existence, and perhaps it is worth looking into its essence.
As Clement Greenberg suggested - analysing a subject by means of the qualities of this subject. It may be better not to destroy the intricate construction of the piano, but rather to experiment with its language. In our situation, it is perhaps more correct to see the potential of such an ancient instrument as a brush. Understand the beauty and uniqueness of the spots and lines it can create.
The Chinese put the entire history of a person's life into only one line. Here a man is born, and the line expands, he lives, and the ink gesture is even and bold, and here comes the apogee and death and the line becomes larger and thicker than before, sophistication at the limit and the sharp edge - the end.
When I experimented with painting without a brush, I felt lonely. Something was missing. I tried the paint by touch and realized that I needed some kind of a tool between me and the paint. It is like a man with a smartphone - he sees the world through an additional device. Or it is like a spectator in a museum. He needs the knowledge to understand abstraction. Such a third element - mom, dad, child ...
When we write with a pen or pencil, we don’t think why it’s not a stone or a cleaver. A pencil is a historically developed instrument that has proven itself over time. Yes, once there was a renaissance and artists were limited in their methods of work. But there was a protest against these outdated norms. Development started. So we need to move further. But why poop on the canvas when a person has already brought this line to the limit. A Chinese artist cut off his rib as a new facet of artistic protest against Chinese lawlessness... Why be radical?
Maybe now is the time to protest against protest… Protest by looking for yourself. Understanding what does it mean to be a human being? Take time to sew. Meditate. Find materiality, digitality, or both together. Give importance to work and the process of creating this work. Relate the boundaries between our daily movements and our gestures when working at a computer/smartphone.
“Painting has been declared to be dead for over 100 years now, and many … are using performance – you know, deliberately were attacking painting. … the next generation of artists actually took those things on as a positive. So paint and the canvas are still very much present; it’s just in a more performative way, or a theatrical way.” (Catherine Wood, 2012 online)
So what can be next?
Bibliography and references
1. TATE, KIRSTIE BEAVEN, Performance Art. Painting and Performance (online) At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/performance-art/painting-and-performance (Accessed 03.02.2021)
2. Norman Bryson (1983) “The Invisible Body”, in Vision and Painting. The logic of the Gaze. The Macmillan Press Ltd
3. Shozo Shimamotos’, ‘Theory of the Curse of the Brush’ from ed. Petra Lange-Berndt, 2015, Materiality, Documents of Contemporary Art, London: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press, p.65-66.
4. Jones, Amelia (1998) ‘The “Pollockian Performative” and the Revision of the Modernist Subject’, from Body Art: Performing the Subject, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, p53 - 102.
5. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Teacher Resource Unit 2013 Gutai: Splendid Playground At: https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/guggenheim-teaching-materials-gutai.pdf (Accessed 01.02.2021)
6. TATE. A Bigger Splash: Painting and Performance 2012 (online) At: A Bigger Splash: Painting and Performance – TateShots | Tate (Accessed 04.02.2021)