Tate Modern Collections Review

02/08/13-author's own

On the fourth floor of the Tate Modern there is a room in the Energy and Process collection dedicated to the Arte Povera and Anti-form movement of the 1960’s. Curated by Mark Godfrey and Helen Sainsbury, it includes pieces from Giovanni Anselmo to Richard Tuttle. Despite no two pieces in the collection originating from the same artist, the room still has a cohesive quality due to the signature focus on the process of making rather than finished piece that defined this movement. Spearheaded by the Italians, Arte Povera embodied the art of the everyday and explored ideas of energy by using a diverse range of materials, from industrial to organic.

'From Surface to Surface' - Sisumu Koshimizu-02/08/13
author's own

They often worked with malleable and volatile substances which allowed natural forces and energies, such as gravity, electricity, and magnetism to manifest themselves in the work. The making process is evident in the final piece, such as with Sisumu Koshimizu’s work ‘From Surface to Surface’ which takes up an entire wall as you enter. Koshimizu sought to understand the world as it is by exploring the essential properties of materials, not changing them. In this piece he effectively investigates the substance of the wood by cutting into, sawing, and exposing various surfaces. About this, Kurban Haji (chair of the Southwark art forum) said ‘I can almost smell this piece...it gives me a sense of all the potential in the objects you encounter everyday.’ ('The Bigger Picture'-Kurban Haji) The impact on the viewer is an important concept in Arte Povera, and so in each piece of work you can feel the artists projection onto the viewer, giving the exhibition a more personal feel.

'Felt' - Robert Morris-02/08/13-author's own 

The ideas of anti-form and Arte Povera were quite radical in their time and have been criticised for its lack of political interest and step away from technological modernism of its time. Instead it concerns itself with physical states and is very untraditional in the way the art is displayed and distributed. Robert Morris’ Felt work, originally made 1967, is a perfect example of this. Morris, in his work and essay on ‘Anti-Form,’ questioned and rejected the fixed geometric shapes and imposing of order on their work of the minimalists. Instead he let materials determine their own shape, relinquishing control of their final appearance. This means the work is different, and even has to be remade, each time it is displayed. The overall exhibition creates and unusual and eclectic collection that catches the eye questions many traditional views of art. Christine Cook, head of family and community programme at the Tate Modern, feels the pieces are ‘getting rid of the idea most of us had, that art has some kind of inaccessible secret to it.’('The Bigger Picture' - Christine Cook).

Bibliography:
http://www.tate.org.uk/search/energy%20and%20process%20arte%20povera%20and%20anti-form
'The Bigger Pictures' - Kurban Haji- Text in Gallery
'The Bigger Picture' - Christine Cook - Text in Gallery
Text by Mark Godfey
-all 03/10/13