Postminimalism

Postminimalism is a movement in modern art that emerged in the 1970s, primarily in the United States. It is characterized by its departure from the minimalist and post-minimalist art movements of the 1960s, which emphasized the removal of subjectivity and the emphasis on materiality and industrial processes.

Postminimal art often incorporates elements of performance, installation, and conceptualism, blurring the boundaries between these disciplines. Artists associated with postminimalism, such as Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Walter De Maria, sought to engage the viewer on a more emotional and visceral level, often using found materials and natural landscapes as subjects and media.

Postminimalism is marked by its attention to landscape and the marginalization of human subjectivity. Artists often use industrial and natural processes to create works that highlight the interactions between land, nature, and human-made structures. This movement is frequently associated with the rise of land art, which emphasizes the destruction of the relationship between the artist and the viewer.

Despite its emphasis on the process-oriented and the conceptual, postminimalist art is often characterized by its use of rich and atmospheric imagery. Many postminimalist artists, such as Isamu Noguchi and Rudolph Baranik, capture scenes of desolate landscapes, geysers, and borings, often evoking a contemplative and introspective mood.

Some critics view postminimalism as a reaction to the prevailing art world interests of the 1970s, while others see it as an extension of contemporary artistic concerns with processes of humanism and emotional intensity. Its firm boundaries with surrounding movements, such as Conceptualism, deconstructivism and Site-Specificity, are still under-pointed and mostly methodical studies.