What minimalism?

Minimalist art means art made with as few means as possible. Minimalism has its origins in the younger generation of American artists in the 1960s. These artists, among them Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Richard Stella and Dan Flavin, did not set out to form a special minimalist school as such. What their art shared was a tendency towards objective and impersonal expression, a counter-reaction to the expressionist art trends which arose after the Second World War.

The minimalists engaged in a new kind of art, which they variably called ABC art, or object art, or “suggestions”. The key was non-representativeness, repeated geometrical shapes and use of readymade industrial materials.

The minimalists believed in the independence of art work. Art has its own reality and it does not have to represent or imitate anything else. The materials, form, structure and scale of the work are interesting in themselves.

A crucial issue in minimalist works is how they are located in space and how they change the space and our perception of it. Aesthetically, minimalist works are often beautiful in a simplified manner and they have been seen as representing order and harmony. Perhaps it is for this reason that minimalist art is often seen as having a spiritual quality, even though the original minimalists rarely made such connection.