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HA 394.201 Painting and Its Other: This three-credit course examines recent American art with particular attention placed on rapidly changing artistic practices during the period. The course will be structured as both an introduction to the art and artists of the period and an interrogation of the thinkers, texts and monuments that provoked artists to develop new art practices. We will pay particular attention to the way artists looked outside painting for inspiration in structuring their various projects. An initial examination of Abstract Expressionism will expand out into a further exploration of the pressures applied to painting in the works, for example, of Rauschenberg, Johns and Stella. We will further investigate how movements such as Happenings, Pop, and Minimalism all challenged the traditional relationship with painting and, at the same time, increasingly introduced the everyday into an art and art world that frequently resisted such intrusions. An increasing tension developed throughout the sixties that pitted painting against sculpture, environment, dance - a tension we'll delve into throughout the term. A recurring theme throughout the course will be the way that the art milieu of New York related to its geographic other. We will see how places like Los Angeles, San Francisco and "the West" were figured in the imaginary of New York artists as well as artists from these areas did-or did not-see themselves and their art in dialogue with the dominant scene in New York. (DeFay) |