The Vestige of Resistance

Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) coined the term action painters to describe postwar American abstract painters. Since then his concept of action has been considered a supplementary term that reinforces autonomy in art. Reading against the grain, Kim proposes to situate Rosenberg s practice in a domain where art lies beyond the rules of aesthetics. Believing in process, vestiges, and possibilities, Rosenberg perceived art to be a substantial component of culture. The meaning of an artwork is not set by aesthetic principles, but is contingent on its context. Providing no vision of completing a priori principles, this contingency is associated with a sense of crisis that generates a radical force for critical art practices. Rosenberg s action epitomizes his central idea that the artist continues to transform him-or herself. This ceaseless discovery by the artist, for Rosenberg, is the content of the artwork. It is an eloquent statement that speaks to individual subjectivity after a collective revolution had failed. His criticism was a constant transaction, which kept modifying itself through his encounters with artists.

Autorentext

Hee-Young Kim is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Art at Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea. She studied Art History at the University of Chicago (MA) and the University of Iowa (Ph.D). Majored in twentieth-century American art and criticism, she taught at the University of Alabama and Hanyang University.

Klappentext

Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) coined the term "action painters" to describe postwar American abstract painters. Since then his concept of "action" has been considered a supplementary term that reinforces autonomy in art. Reading against the grain, Kim proposes to situate Rosenberg's practice in a domain where art lies beyond the rules of aesthetics. Believing in process, vestiges, and possibilities, Rosenberg perceived art to be a substantial component of culture. The meaning of an artwork is not set by aesthetic principles, but is contingent on its context. Providing no vision of completing a priori principles, this contingency is associated with a sense of crisis that generates a radical force for critical art practices. Rosenberg's "action" epitomizes his central idea that the artist continues to transform him-or herself. This ceaseless discovery by the artist, for Rosenberg, is the content of the artwork. It is an eloquent statement that speaks to individual subjectivity after a collective revolution had failed. His criticism was a constant transaction, which kept modifying itself through his encounters with artists.