Abstract
The history of relief constructions and the notion of ‘The concrete in Art’ go back to the beginning of the 20th Century and evidence the ongoing concerns and needs of artists to produce discrete palpable objects capable of transcending time, place and meaning. It is a tradition which has grown and continues to influence painters world wide particularly in England, France, Holland, Switzerland and Germany and sits more broadly within the field of Geometric Abstraction.
The relief construction, Relief No: 20, which formed part of a larger research output, demonstrated the logical visual outcomes of applying Van Deosberg’s theories of 1930 in conjunction with historical developments in notions of ‘The concrete’ as occurred in France, Switzerland, Holland and England from 1930 to the early 1990’s. It questioned the viability and continuing currency of such ‘Utopian’ notions of ‘The Concrete’ and the universality of neutral and numerically generated geometric forms especially within the growing developments of Post Modernism.
The work was innovative and added to new knowledge in so far as it demonstrated the restrictions and limitations of adhering to a strict/pure definition of the concrete. On the other hand it demonstrated that the notion of the concrete had, and continues to provide, a viable process and framework that allows artists to produce unique work whilst continuing to engage with contemporary art practice.
Relief Number: 20 has been exhibited in Andrew Christofides, The Beatty Gallery, Sydney, 1995, and Abstraction 6, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, 2007. Three more pieces from the same research project are currently being exhibited in ‘Andrew Christofides’, Charles Nodrum, Melbourne, 2009.