Digital Embodiment in Contemporary Abstract Painting

Michael Stubbs
Goldsmiths College, University of London, PhD, 2003

Thesis Abstract

This thesis re-investigates Clement Greenberg’s discredited abstract expressionist claim that painting should seek its own purity through the acknowledgment of its material.  I argue that Greenberg’s physical, bodily determination of painting (but not its purity) is re-located as a criticality in contemporary practice because of the changes brought about by the simulacrum and the digital.  By utilizing the particularities of ‘painterly’ issues such as materiality, depth and opticality into the virtual, this claim responds to Arthur C. Danto’s ‘end of history’ theories where he argues that artists are no longer bound to the dictates of grand master narratives of art.  For Danto, contemporary art has irrevocably deviated from the narrative discourses which define it such as Greenberg’s.  

Not satisfied with either postmodern strategies of parody in painting that claim a linear end to the modernist canon, or with recent claims that contemporary painting is beyond postmodernism, I convert Greenberg’s physical determinism using Andrew Benjamin’s notion that contemporary abstract painters, through making, accept and transform the historical/modernist premise of the yet-to-be-resolved object/painting by staging a repetition of abstraction as an event of becoming.

This ‘re-styling’ of abstract painting is then examined as an ontological conjoining of Greenberg with Merleau-Ponty’s claim that the painter transforms the relationship between the body and a painting by overlapping the interior sense of self with the world of external objects.  I argue that contemporary painting can offer a philosophical dialogue between the painter’s subjectivity as a mirroring of the painter’s personal style through objective ornamental materiality.  This dialogue is developed through Stephen Perrella’s Hypersurface theory which proposes a non-subjective, deterritorialised, architectural parallel of the digital as a transparent, fluid system of multi-dimensional signs in which the contemporary subject traverses.  Consequently, I suggest, the symbolic virtual changes the body’s sensuous relation to time and space and is central to contemporary painting’s criticality.

Contents

6	List of Illustrations

9	Illustrations

44	Foreword The ‘End’ of Irony

48	Introduction ‘Uncritical’ Strategies in Painting

Media Representations of Painting
Contemporary Painting as Entertainment
New Formalism
Post History?

62	Chapter One Painting after Parody: What does it mean to Paint Today?

Painting Beyond Postmodernism?  ‘Abstract Painting, Once Removed’
Colour Me Blind
New Abstract Painting
Re-Writing History
The Informe
The Informe as Decorative Surface, or how to re-deal Abstract Painting
Walter Benjamin and Mechanical Reproduction

91	Chapter Two Modernism, Postmodernism and Arthur C.Danto’s, ‘After the End of Art’

Clement Greenberg and Modernism
Clement Greenberg: Flatness in Painting; 
(i) Avant-Garde and Kitsch, (ii) Towards a Newer Laocoon, (iii) On the Role of Nature in Modernist Painting, (iv) Abstract and Representational, (v) Modernist Painting
Pop Art
Postmodernism: Resistance or Neo-Conservatism
Arthur C.Danto: ‘After the End of Art’
Yve-Alain Bois: Painting as Model
David Pagel: Abstract Painting… Once Removed;
(i) Beyond Postmodernism?(reprise), (ii)High Modernism, Pop and the Stylistic ‘Effect’ of Contemporary Painting, (iii) Mechanical Reproduction and the Embodied Effects of Aesthetics as an Apposition

130	Chapter Three The Relation of Embodiment to Phenomenology in Painting as a Re-Staging of Abstract Painting: Andrew Benjamin’s ‘What is Abstraction?’ and Merleau-Ponty’s ‘Eye and Mind’

Andrew Benjamin: What is Abstraction? 
(i) Irreducible Determinations: Painting, Materiality and History as a Twofold Procedure, (ii) Painting as an Act of Process: The ‘Yet-to-be-Resolved’ Object, (iii) Historical Repetition and Interpretive Time, (iv) The Re-Configuration of Paintings Surface in the Contemporary
Merleau-Ponty: Eye and Mind;
(i) A Critique of Scientific Operationalism, (ii) The Overlapping of the Thinking and Seeing Body with the World of Objects, (iii) The Bodily-Imaginative Production as a Mirror of the World of Objects, (iv) Depth, Space and Colour as Reversibility, (v) Painting Practice as Auto-Figurative
Colour, Depth, Style and Flesh as ‘Overlapping’: Secondary Readings of Eye and Mind
Galen A. Johnson: Ontology and Painting
Cezanne: Watercolours
Alphonse de Waelhens: Merleau-Ponty: Philosopher of Painting
David Reed: The Surface as Illusion and Paint as Object; Painting as Sign
The Sign as Code
Jean Baudrillard: The Model as a Reversal of the Logic of Meaning; From Subject to Object
Painting: Re-Determining Merleau-Ponty’s ‘Fleshy Overlapping’ in Vision with Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Appearance as Sign’; From Object to Subject and Back Again

170	Chapter Four The Ontology of Digital Embodiment as Hypersurface

Modernity, Self, Embodiment, Technology and Motion
Technology and the (Dis)appearing Subject: Schizophrenia or Seduction?
The Computer Screen as Augmented Space
Hypersurface Theory; Architecture><Culture
Electronic Signs as Planes of Ornamental Immanence
The Imaginary Texture of the Real as a Deluezean ‘Becoming’ 
Decoration as Critique
197	Conclusion The Ontology of Digital Embodiment as a ‘Becoming’ in Contemporary Abstract Painting

Surface Flatness as a Site for Re-Configured Activity
Style as Hypersurface in Contemporary Painting
The Criticality of Apposition as ‘Pure Seduction’ 

208	Bibliography

	Additional Booklet;
212	Michael Stubbs, Paintings: 1989-2003 Visual Accompaniment to Thesis

213	Contents

214	Introduction 

216	List of Illustrations

219	Illustrations 

List of Illustrations   
(measurements in centimeters and inches)

9	Michael Stubbs, Untitled, 1991, oil paint on stacked canvases, 31x31x22cms.
	Kremer, M. (1990).  MA Show: Goldsmiths.  London; Goldsmiths College

10	Elizabeth Peyton, Jarvis on Bed, 1998, oil on board, 43x46cms. 
	Zdenek, F. (2002).  Editor.  Elizabeth Peyton.  Ostifildern-Ruit: Hatje Cante Verlag   

11	Dexter Dalwood, Paisley Park, 1998, oil on canvas, 153x183cms.
	Ellis, P. (1999).  Die Young Stay Pretty.  London: Institute of Contemporary Arts

12	Jason Martin, Merlin, 1996, oil on aluminum, 244x244cms.
	Rosenthal, N. and B. Adams, L. Jardine, M. Maloney, R. Shone (1997).  Sensation.  
	London: Saatchi Gallery.  p.123.

13	Ingrid Calame, EUnstz, enamel on aluminum, 1998, 24”x24”; OM splink, 1997, enamel on aluminum, 24”x24”. 
	Relyea, L. (1998).  ‘Virtually Formal’.  Artforum no.1, vol.XXXVII (September).  p.131.

14	Monique Prieto, GOP, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 84”x66”; No Exceptions, 1996, acrylic on canvas, 30”x48”.
	Relyea, L. (1998).  ‘Virtually Formal’.  Artforum no.1, vol.XXXVI (September).  p.132.

15	Bank, Cocaine Orgasm, 1995, mixed media, dimensions variable.
	Anon. (2000).  Bank.  London: Bank Publications.  p.29.

16	Laura Owens, Untitled, 2002, oil and acrylic on linen, 214x133cms.
Schwabsky, B. (2002).  Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting.  London and New York: Phaidon.  p.242.

17	Gary Webb, Cock and Bull, 2001, mixed media, dimensions variable.
	Charlesworth, J.J. (2002).  ‘Not Neo but New’.  Art Monthly no.259 (September).  p.8  

17	Shahin Afrassiabi, Display with Table, 2002, mixed media, dimensions variable.
	Charlesworth, J.J. (2002).  ‘Not Neo but New’.  Art Monthly no.259 (September).  p.9  

18	Kevin Appel, A Living Room with Oranges, 1996, oil and acrylic on canvas over board, 65”x52”; Landing, 1998, oil and acrylic on canvas over board, 72”x64”.
	Relyea, L. (1998).  ‘Virtually Formal’.  Artforum no.1, vol.XXXVI (September).  p.128.

19	Takahashi Murakami, The Castle of Tin Tin, 1998, acrylic on canvas, 298x298cms.
Christofori, R. and L. Relyea (1999).  Colour Me Blind.  Stuttgart and Munster: Wurtembergischer Kunstverein; Stadtische Austellungshalle am Hawerkamp, 1999.  p.81.

20	Fiona Rae, Evil Dead II, 1998, oil and acrylic on canvas, 244x214cms.
Christofori, R. and L. Relyea (1999).  Colour Me Blind.  Stuttgart and Munster: Wurtembergischer Kunstverein; Stadtische Austellungshalle am Hawerkamp, 1999.  p.97.

21	Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950, oil and enamel on canvas, 8’11”x17’8”.
Clark, T.J. (1999).  Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernism.  New Haven and London: Yale University Press.  p.343.

22	Glenn Brown, Kill the Poor, 2000, oil on panel, 71x57cms.
Paul, Frederic and S. Hepworth, T. R. Myers (2000).  Glenn Brown.  Bignan: Domaine de Kerguehennec, Centre d’art contemporain, 2000.  p.53.

23	Carroll Dunham, Island, 1997, mixed media on linen, 68”x88”x1”.
Cameron, D. (1998).  ‘Carroll Dunham at Metro Pictures’.  Artforum no.7, vol.XXXVI (March). p.95

24	Philip Taaffe, Old Cairo, 1989, monoprint and acrylic on linen, 231x172cms.
Pellizzi, F. (1990).  ‘Fragment on Ornament: Gunther Forg and Philip Taaffe’.  Parkett no.25.  p.83.

25	Kevin Knox, Untitled, 2000, oil on cancvas 244x198cms.
	London: Approach Gallery.   [press release].

26	Richard Prince, Untitled, 1995, silk-screen and acrylic on canvas, 118x122cms.
	Dietch, J. (1996).  Young  Americans.  London: Saatchi Gallery.  p.84.

27	Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1966, silk-screen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 294x294cms. 
McShine, K. and B. H. D.  Buchloh, M. Livingstone, R.Rosenblum (1989).  Andy Warhol: A Retrospective.  New York:  Museum of Modern Art.  p.296.

28	David Salle, His Brain, 1984, diptych: oil and acrylic on canvas, 117”x168”. 
Kardon, J. and L. Philips (1986).  David Salle.  Pennsylvannia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania.  p.56.  

29	Jasper Johns, Flag, 1955, oil and collage on canvas, 107x154cms.	
	Boudaille, G. (1991).  Jasper Johns.  London: Academy Editions.  p.38. 

30	Fabian Marcaccio, Paint-Zone #11, 1994-5, oil and collograph on canvas, 163x153cms.
	Benjamin, A. (1996).  What is Abstraction?  London: Academy Editions.  p.56.

31	Jonathan Lasker, Expressions of an Uncertain Universe, 1994, oil on linen, 76x102cms.
	Benjamin, A. (1996).  What is Abstraction?  London: Academy Editions.  p.2.

32	Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, c.1900, watercolour, 31x48cms.
	Venturi, L. (1978).  Cezanne.  Basingstoke and London: MacMillan London Ltd.  p.156.

33	Henri Mattisse, Nude, Back View, 1906, lithograph, 45x28cms.
	Bois, Y-A. (1993).  Painting as Model.  Cambridge Mass. and London: MIT Press. p.43.

34	David Reed, #358, 1996, oil and alkyd on solid ground, 30”x38”.
Danto, A.C. (1999).  ‘Bedside Manner; David Reed’.  Artforum no.10, vol.XXX (Summer).  p.124.

35	David Reed, David Reed in his Studio with works in progress, 1999.
Danto, A.C. (1999).  ‘Bedside Manner; David Reed’.  Artforum no.10, vol.XXX (Summer).p.123.

36	Marcus Novak, Paracube, 1997, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Perrella, S. (1998).  ‘Hypersurface Architecture I’.  Architectural Design no.5-6, vol.68.  p.91.  

37	Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins, Interaction House, 1997, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Perrella, S. (1998).  ‘Hypersurface Architecture I’.  Architectural Design no.5-6, vol.68.  p.25.

38	Daniel Buren, Les Colours Melangees: le Village, 2001, mixed media, dimensions 	variable.
Pellegrin, J. (2002).  ‘Daniel Buren: Decoration as Critique’.  Art Press no.280 (June).  p.22.

38	Liam Gillick, Revision/22nd Floor Wall Drawing, 1998, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Pellegrin, J. (2002).  ‘Daniel Buren: Decoration as Critique’.  Art Press no.280 (June).  p.23.

38	Tobias Rehberger, Edith’s Sunny 11.10.63 (Piaf), 2000, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Pellegrin, J. (2002).  ‘Daniel Buren: Decoration as Critique’.  Art Press no.280 (June).  p.23.

39	Jeremy Blake, Installation of ‘Mod Lang’, 2001, DVD projections of digital animations, dimensions variable.
Valdez, S. (2002).  ‘Attack of the Abstract: the Digital Art of Jeremy Blake’.  Art in America (March).  pp.102-103.

40	Chris Ofili, Afrodizzia (second version), 1996, mixed media on canvas, 244x 183cms.
Schwabsky, B. (2002).  Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting.  London and New York: Phaidon.  p.239.

41	Albert Oelhen, Untitled, 1994, oil on canvas, 240x200cms. 
	Hergott, F. and R. Ohrt (1995).  Albert Oehlen.  Cologne: Taschen.  p.163.

42	Michael Stubbs, Untitled (beef joint no.4), 2001, oil based mixed media on MDF, 122x122cms.
	Hemsworth G. and S. Malik (2000).  Painting as a Foreign Language.  Sao Paulo: Edifico Cultura Inglesa, Centro Brasileiro Britanico.  p.55.

43	Michael Stubbs, Untitled (ice cream no.3), 2002, oil based mixed media on MDF, 153x122cms.
	Stuttgart: Hollenbach Gallery. [post card].

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