ART-PRESENTATION: Robert Morris-Refractions
Robert Morris is one of the central figures of Minimalism and Anti-form Movements. Through both his own sculptures of the ‘60s and theoretical writings, Morris set forth a vision of art pared down to simple geometric shapes stripped of metaphorical associations, and focused on the artwork’s interaction with the viewer. However, in contrast to Donald Judd and Carl Andre, Morris had a diverse range that extended well beyond the Minimalist ethos and was at the forefront of other Art Movements as well, most notably, Process Art and Land Art.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Sprüth Magers Gallery Archive
In his solo exhibition “Refractions” at Sprüth Magers in Berlin, Robert Morris brings together six works produced at various points during his career, from 1961 to 2014. This sequence of works conveys his unconventional handling of sculptural forms to create dynamic and sensory relationships between object, space, and viewer. Robert Morris turned to art and art criticism after studying engineering, writing a 1966 master’s thesis on Constantin Brancusi at Hunter College, New York. Since then, Morris has continued to write influential critical essays, four of which serve as a thumbnail chronology of his most important work: “Some Notes on Dance” (1965), “Notes on Sculpture” (1968), “Anti Form” (1968), and “Aligned with Nazca” (1975). During the ‘50s, Morris grew interested in dance while living in San Francisco with his wife, the dancer and choreographer Simone Forti. After moving to New York in 1959, they participated in a loose-knit confederation of dancers known as the Judson Dance Theater, for which Morris choreographed a number of works. Morris created his earliest Minimalist objects as props for his dance performances, hence the rudimentary wooden construction of these boxlike forms, which reflected the Judson Dance Theater’s emphasis on function over expression. During the ‘60s and ‘70s, Morris played a central role in defining three principal artistic movements of the period: Minimalist Sculpture, Process Art, and Earthworks. “Untitled (Pine portal with Mirrors)” (1961), is an early example of Morris’ use of sculpture to engage the moving body, the illusion of a passageway invites the viewer to pass directly through the work, simultaneously appearing like a stage prop for a dance or performance. Meanwhile, the individual reflections in its mirrored surfaces solicit from the viewer a more familiar, static form of self-observation. In his installation “Untitled (Williams Mirrors)” (1976-77) the artist positions a double-sided pair of mirrors in the middle of the room and four pairs of one-sided mirrors at the corners – meaning that the reflection in each mirror appears to multiply infinitely. As the viewer moves through the space, weaving in and around the constellation, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish real bodies from their reflections, or to perceive their exact locations within the space, as the duplicated images appear to be dislocated from their surroundings. Exhibited here for first time, “Strike” (2012), is a monumental concertinaed structure of polished aluminum and arctic birch elements that is suspended from the ceiling. Other works are: the wooden sculptures, “Maple Arch” (2012) and “Roman Arch” (2014) that encourage movement in a different but related way, retuning the viewer to a sensory and unmediated experience of their surroundings as they pass through the human-scale channels of negative space created by the sculptures. And “Bench” (2013), where Morris reinforces the concerns addressed by the preceding sequence of works in the exhibition and foregrounds the continued legacy of Minimalism.
Info: Sprüth Magers Gallery, Oranienburger Straße 18, Berlin, Duration: 22/11/16-14/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.spruethmagers.com
