Art Criticism Research Articles

An inclusive case study of multimodal metaphor

Abstract This article provides a detailed analysis of multimodal metaphor by means of a case study which focuses on the contemporary art project, ‘Laboratory of Dilemmas’ (Venetic Biennale 2017), by George Drivas. The analysis focuses on multimodal metaphors which instantiate the source concept of labyrinth, utilizing constructs from Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Metaphor Analysis and Multimodal Metaphor Analysis within a more encompassing framework of Contemporary Art Criticism. The present study aims to define properties of multimodal metaphors, i.e. their forms, concepts and usage, reveal conceptualizations of both the creator and the spectators-analysts of a system of multimodal metaphors, and clarify key contexts, such as embodied, cultural, and ideological, which influence their production, comprehension, impact and analysis. According to the analysis proposed, the multimodal metaphors affect the spectators very deeply, engaging their mental, emotional, multisensory and bodily responses to ideological dilemmas that are prompted by the current refugee migration.

Decolonizing Ukrainian Art History

Abstract In this article, we analyze the influence of the colonial policy of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union on Ukrainian art-historical writing. As we shall reveal, the mechanisms of knowledge production created during that period continued to operate after the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991. The limitations that were imposed on the art-historical community, which can be regarded as colonial, shaped the crucial narratives (of the “triune nation”) and dictated the thematic scope of Ukrainian scholarship. The new notion of “mysteztvoznavstvo,” introduced in 1937 instead of the previously established Theory and History of Art, eventually led to a profound rift between Soviet Russian and Ukrainian scholarship and the Western world more generally. “Mysteztvoznavstvo” was supposed to be an umbrella term for art history, theory, and art criticism but ended up doing a disservice to each domain. Art theory in Ukraine was virtually nonexistent, whereas art history was mixed with art criticism, resulting in writing that did not meet widely accepted academic standards. This led to the isolation of Ukrainian scholars, who were confined to the Russian-speaking community and had very limited access to foreign scholarship. We also analyze the decolonization processes in the history of Ukrainian art prompted by the invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine after 2013, such as The Revolution of Dignity and “decommunization.” We argue that horizontal art history and decolonial approaches cannot adequately be applied if colonial tools are still used by the discipline. Epistemic decolonization can only be achieved after challenging the standards of “mysteztvoznavstvo” and, thus, by dividing art studies into three separate domains: art history, art theory, and art criticism, as each discipline has its own goals and methods.

Communicative consciousness and principles of environmental design in the experimental project "Stone. Inversion. Vessel"

The article is based on the analysis and summary of the design process of the work of the Chinese author "Stone. Inversion. Vessel". It examines three key aspects of the development of environmental design. Firstly, it is a combination of modern technologies with aesthetic representations of traditional Chinese culture. Through the study of the project, it is demonstrated how traditional Chinese art can be combined with modern technologies when creating a design object. Secondly, the project highlights the features of the development of design in the modern era. It is characterized by problems of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, which can be mitigated through interdisciplinary integration with the use of the latest technologies. Environmental design, thanks to the multifaceted concept of "environment", meets the conditions of development of the modern era. Thirdly, the article focuses on the fact that the communication of the subjects of the creative process is based on the images embodied in a specific project. Environmental design as an interdisciplinary field is based on the methods of different scientific fields, since the environment that changes under the influence of human activity is not the same. In the proposed article, the author uses the art criticism method when describing blue-and-green landscape painting, and also assigns a large role to the communicative method of sociology developed by the American scientist Harold Dwight Lasswell. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author was able to show the possibility of a harmonious combination of modern 3D modeling technologies with the traditional Chinese art of blue-and-green landscape painting (青绿山水 qīng lǜ shān shuǐ). In other words, a planar image turns into a design object, with the help of which can be realized various spatial combinations. Through artistic thinking, one can enjoy not only the functional, but also the aesthetic possibilities of the design object. So, in the described project, the author focuses on the imagination of the observer, forcing him to climb a mountain peak, but inside the building. This is how communication takes place between the author, the "viewer" and the project itself. The image is the basis of communication between various objects of the environment involved in the design process. The creative process combines the material (functional) and spiritual (image-induced) needs of a person. Environmental design, through the synthesis of spiritual and material, establishing communication between design objects and integrating disciplines through the prism of an image, explores how design affects human activity.

Hermann Gross, A Descendant of the German Expressionist Movement, Who Made his Home in the North of Scotland

This paper presents a brief biographical account of the life and work of Hermann Gross – a German Expressionist artist – who was born in 1904 in Lahr, Baden-Württemberg. The nature and extent of his professional training with a succession of distinguished teachers are outlined. With the outbreak of WW2, he was conscripted in January 1941 and joined a Luftwaffe propaganda unit. Attention is drawn to a number of sketches drawn by Gross, which were discovered long after the end of the war, and which appear to show a series of subversive messages. In the latter stages of WW2, Gross was transferred to the Russian front and was involved in the subsequent and calamitous retreat of the German army. This latter experience proved deeply traumatic for Gross and from which he did not fully recover for two decades. Partly in an attempt to address his impaired mental health he emigrated to the USA with his wife. Although he had two exhibitions of his work at the Macbeth Gallery in New York, where his work was highly commended by a number of leading American art critics, he never truly settled and returned to Germany to live a quiet and undemanding life. Then in 1966 he was invited by Dr Karl König, founder of the Camphill community in Scotland, to come to Aberdeen and to act as an artist-in-residence. For the next two decades, with his artistic drive and enthusiasm fully restored, Gross was actively engaged in a wide range of artistic work: none of which he chose to publicly exhibit beyond the Camphill community. He died in 1988 and is buried in Maryculter kirkyard, Aberdeenshire.

Jewish Art Studies in the Lithuanian Yiddish Press of the Interwar Period (1918–1940)

Summary Lithuanian art studies as an independent branch of science began to take shape in the First Republic of Lithuania between year 1918 and 1940. During 22 years in a multinational free state, it followed a winding path of mastery, professionalism, and the formation of a critic’s thought. However, if the origins, development, and forms of interwar Lithuanian art studies already are being explored, the Jewish art studies are still waiting for its first investigations. The purpose of this article is to broaden the scope of Lithuanian art research by incorporating the layers of interwar Jewish art studies conducted in the Yiddish language. Using the combined methodology of research as method of source studies, the aspects of social history of art and the comparative method, the Jewish art studies were analysed as a specific phenomenon which functioned alongside Lithuanian art studies. Throughout this research, over 1,000 Yiddish publications were reviewed to find the answers to the never previously discussed questions – how many Jewish art historians and critics contributed articles to the Yiddish press, what kind and quality of publications about Jewish art were featured, what aspects of Jewish art, artists, and society did Jewish art critics emphasise, and what kind of relationship existed among art critics, artists and public. The article also encompasses the short biographies of the most prominent Jewish authors in the field of art criticism.

A Challenge to Local Primitivism in Eastern European Cultures: the African ‘Exotic Heritage’ in Modern Art

Summary This article deals with the ‘primitivist’ sources of European modern art, with a focus on Eastern European artists, including some who later developed their careers in the West. These artists are regarded as atypical but relevant cases of modernist legacies, yet their contribution is less studied because of their non-Western European backgrounds. Their early artistic careers were influenced by the local folk and naïve style and motifs of their rural homelands, but they later transmuted their ‘primitivist style’, adopting the fashionable exotic, mostly African, motifs of the Western modernist schools when they moved to the West (typically, France), connected themselves with the modernist movement and received recognition. Unlike the perspective usually adopted by art criticism, this article suggests a heritage studies approach: it firstly conceptualises and considers how one type of heritage primitivism is subsumed to another in this complex artistic formation, and then problematises this dissonant legacy of their work. It is argued that in the field of cultural heritage debate, we need to extend the concept of dissonant heritage to discuss the dual concept of local/exotic heritage, while critically reassessing the uses of primitivism in its authenticist vs. assimilationist ideological intentions.

Chinese Art’s Influence on Roger Fry’s Aesthetics Formalism

Roger Fry was one of the greatest art critics of the 20th century, who promoted the rise and development of the Western modern art movement and constructed a set of modern aesthetics formalism and art criticism theories, exerting a huge influence on modern art. Despite the formation of Fry’s aesthetics formalism cannot be separated from the background of the transformation of Western cultural traditions, the influx of Chinese art into the West at that time also had an impact on Fry’s aesthetics formalism. Fry extracted and reinterpreted from Chinese art, forming a distinctive formalist aesthetic theory. In Fry’s various works, the influence of Chinese classical aesthetics can be seen, such as blank space, rhythm, and emotional expression. The research will explore the correlation between Roger Fry’s aesthetic formalism theory and Chinese art. The study will analyze how Chinese art was introduced into the West and how Roger Fry was influenced by Chinese art. It will focus some particular elements like rhythm and blank space, explore how Fry reinterpreted them and applied to modern art criticism theory, using his work “Cézanne: A Study of His Development” as an example.

Natividad bajo los escombros. Una instalación de Tariq Salsa

Art Criticism. Nativity Under the Rubble. An Installation by Tariq Salsa

Claudio Goulart and His Artistic Critique of the Ideology of Multiculturalism

Claudio Goulart and His Artistic Critique of the Ideology of Multiculturalism

Metamodernism as a Tester of New Creative Stimuli

The purpose of the research is to analyse metamodernism as a tester of new creative stimuli. The methodology of the research is based on general scientific research principles; terminological and systemic. The purpose and tasks of the publication determined the use of such research methods as analysis, synthesis, generalisation, which made it possible to clarify the meaning of a number of concepts and terms. Scientific novelty lies in the study of a new cultural phenomenon, namely metamodernism. Since a significant part of domestic cultural experts as well as art critics such as film critics, musicologists and specialists dealing with various genres of fine art ignored those works that appeared in the corresponding spheres of metamodernism. The first assessments of this cultural phenomenon start publishing only from 2015–2017. Their authors were mostly philosophers and estheticians, not representatives of cultural knowledge. Conclusions. In the field of Ukrainian humanities, cultural studies are developing quite actively and dynamically, constantly expanding the research area. We consider it necessary to develop the practice of adding the prefix "post" to stable concepts or categories, namely: postmodernity, postculture, postart, postmodernism. The problem of conceptual and categorical provision of cultural studies, meaning the practice of arguing new concepts, the introduction of which is connected with a specific author's surname, is attributed to their personal development, the ideas of which are supported by other specialists. Work in this direction is one of the most important theoretical perspectives of Ukrainian cultural studies.

Public Art and Cultural Identity: Analysing the Keris Sculpture under Municipal Hang Tuah Jaya, Melaka

In the Malay community, the Keris served not only as a self-defence tool but also as a significant symbol reflecting the Malay community and cultural heritage. This study explores the symbolic meaning and cultural significance of the public sculpture Keris at Jalan Air Keroh, installed by the Municipal Hang Tuah Jaya, Melaka Councils. Applying Feldman's art criticism theory, which encompasses four main aspects - description, analysis, interpretation, and judgement, this research seeks to investigate the design and meaning of the sculpture. Despite its prominent visibility and visual solid impact along the roadside, its deep cultural significance and influence on the local community remain enigmatic. By providing a comprehensive analysis of the symbolic and artistic elements of the Keris sculpture, this study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by utilising a systematic descriptive qualitative approach based on Feldmans's theory. The findings of this study are expected to provide comprehensible information that can enhance both local and tourist understanding and appreciation of the sculpture. It can also strengthen interactions and appreciation of Malay culture in Melaka. Findings showed the potential of public sculpture in Melaka, which serves as an aesthetic element and a crucial component to bringing a closer understanding and appreciation in promoting the cultural and historical significance of the Malay community to the general public.

Cubism in Sweden – from experimental to moderate

In this article, examples of various forms of cubism practiced by Swedish artists are described and analyzed regarding form, content and reception in the field. A certain emphasis is placed on female artists, since there is a need for differencing the narrative of modernism regarding women’s contributions, often disregarded in their own contexts as well as in the writing of art history. Attention has also been paid to changing notions of cubism in the field of art. In the early years of cubism, from the 1910s, a considerable number of Swedish artists experimented enthusiastically with prismatic and other cubist effects in their paintings. Many of them went to Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen to see the new art, and brought new ideas to Sweden. For most of the artists who experimented with different kinds of cubism, it was a temporary activity, although many of them felt they had acquired new insights concerning artistic form. Some of them further developed their findings into new directions of modernist art, such as post-cubism, purism and concrete art. Women artists were active in all of these movements. The art market in Stockholm thrived in the 1910s and 1920s. Several of the art critics and large parts of the art audience had difficulties understanding cubism, and rejected the non-figurative art exhibited at the Stockholm exhibition in 1930. However, most Swedish cubism proved to be of a moderate sort, such as the works by Georg Pauli. On the other hand, Agnes Cleve, Siri Derkert, Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN), and Otto G. Carlsund never ceased to generate bold forms and compositions. Regardless, it took a long time for Swedish art audiences to accept this form of visual art.

Painting as Existential Experience: the Work of the Painter Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas

The aim of the article is to study the life and creative work of the famous Lithuanian artist Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas in the context of socio-cultural phenomena of the late 20th century. Results. Paintings of Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas (1957–1993) give an impression of intriguing, temperamental, obscure and enigmatic creative work. The artist lived for a short time, as his life ended unexpectedly when he was only thirty-five years old. The painter is strongly etched in the memory of his contemporaries, and his personality, as well as creative work are intertwined with things that may not even exist. Nowadays, a lot of people talk about Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas and his paintings. This bright personality achieves more and more colourful tones, and is vividly portrayed. Art historians are interested in his artistic legacy. The artistic work of this painter remains a subject of interest and discussion among artists and art critics. It is fought over at public auctions, and in the shadow of the art market. After graduating from the Vilnius Art Institute (now the Vilnius Academy of Arts), the young artist was thrust into a period of political change. The liberation of Lithuania from the Soviet Union meant new opportunities and creative freedom for him and other artists. Scientific novelty. This article is the first attempt to analyse in detail the oeuvre of Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas, as during the period of political changes, his paintings became a symbol of creative freedom. Conclusions. In fact, this outstanding artist brought many innovations to Lithuanian painting. The painter intuitively found a new concept of abstract painting in Lithuania. His main idea was to improvise freely on a very large canvas, and to paint nature alla prima. Free colour improvisations in his work only appeared after long sessions in painting plein air workshops. Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas stood out because he did not care about subtle colour nuances, or even for the whole expressive colourist school of Lithuanian painting. His abstractions are like a short and precise message spoken aloud.

Кант 300. Размышления о Международном Кантовском конгрессе в Калининграде

From April 22 to April 25, 2024, the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad) hosted the International Kant Congress (hereafter referred to as the Congress), attended by over five hundred philosophers and scholars (art critics, educators, cultural experts, and others) from twenty-three countries. The theme of the congress was encapsulated by Kant’s well-known expression: “The World Concept of Philosophy”, encompassing diverse orientations that formed the basis for the main discussions. This quote primarily urges us to revisit Kant’s inter­pretation of philosophy as a rational means of harmonizing all spheres of human activity, while also highlighting its interdisciplinary, synthesizing nature. Parti­cipants of the congress were united by a characteristic feature aligning with the theme and spirit of the conference: an ideological focus on cooperation, a drive for compromise, and the search for formulas of equal free interaction among modern people. The congress showcased the complex, branched system of contemporary Kant studies and identified the most significant trends in the ac­tualization of Kant’s philosophy. A central theme in the fundamental works was the effort to identify a crucial aspect of Kant’s critical philosophy and substanti­ate it as a systematizing principle, forming the answer to the question “What is man?” The leitmotif of all applied reports was the application of Kant’s philo­sophy as a tool to determine the prospects of humans and humanity in today’s multi-religious, polyethnic, multicultural world. Together, fundamental and ap­plied research not only create an overall picture of contemporary Kant studies but also indicate the directions of development in modern world philosophy

‘Archetypal Load of Tension’: Idiosyncratic Idioms of Surrealism Created by Aleksander Krzywobłocki and Margit Reich-Sielska in the 1930s in Lviv

This article examines the artistic contributions of two members of the ‘artes’ group, active in Lviv (Lwów during the interwar period) from 1929 to 1935: Aleksander Krzywobłocki (1901–1979) and Margit Reich-Sielska (1900–1980). Situated within the ‘artes’ milieu, which emerged as the most cohesive community among phenomena with a surrealist profile in the history of Polish art, their creative endeavors have faded from the collective memory of subsequent generations of art historians and critics, both within and beyond Poland. With the aim of elucidating the distinctive characteristics of Krzywobłocki and Sielska’s artistic attitudes, deeply rooted in the cultural landscape of interwar Galicia, this study explores their work as both manifestations of the avant-garde milieu in Lviv and contributions to the transnational surrealist movement. This examination takes a relational approach, considering their artistic output within a framework of trans-local and trans-regional connections. Drawing upon the works of various surrealists active in different European centers, I juxtapose the artistic approaches of Krzywobłocki and Sielska with other practitioners of the movement to highlight both convergences and differences in their expressions. By situating their artistic profiles within the broader modalities of surrealism as a polycentric movement and within the unique cultural context of Lviv—a city marked by its multiethnic, multicultural, and multiconfessional character—I argue that their imaginings should be classified as idiosyncratic idioms of surrealism. This hybrid expression, which developed on the peripheries of European artistic hubs, is primarily distinguished by an ‘archetypal load of tension’—a continual quest for archetypal content that has been lost in the modern world.

The Aesthetic Expression of Abstract Calligraphy: Emotion and Form between Brush and Ink

Calligraphy is one of the most important visual art forms inherited from China for thousands of years. The visual formal resources contributed by the dots and structures of Chinese calligraphy are one of the wonders in the world art history. Among them, abstract calligraphy, as a unique art form, contains rich emotional expression and formal aesthetic exploration between brush and ink. This study adopts a qualitative research paradigm, through in-depth interviews with senior abstract calligraphers, art critics and scholars, combined with on-site observation of the creative process of calligraphy, literature analysis and interpretation of works, in order to comprehensively analyze the emotional connotation and formal vocabulary of abstract calligraphy, and to clarify the intrinsic connection and tension between the two. The results of the study show that in abstract calligraphy, the subject's emotional experience is the root power of modeling. Through the refinement and sublimation of life experience, the calligrapher injects the vibration of individual consciousness and philosophical thoughts into the brush and ink with the help of visual elements such as brush strokes, lines, and compositions. The brush and ink become the direct speech of the mind, and the viewer can feel the rhythm and bitterness of life, the struggle and emptiness of desire, the pursuit of tranquility and other rich emotional experiences in the works. At the same time, the careful construction of formal language is also the core of abstract calligraphy exploration. Through the mastery of brush and ink materials and writing momentum, the use of wet and dry contrast, white space, texture and other techniques, to create a shocking visual tension, giving people a strong experience of formal aesthetics. The study emphasizes that abstract calligraphy realizes a high degree of unity between emotion and form. On the one hand, the form itself carries the spiritual experience and inner emotion of the calligrapher; on the other hand, the emotion gives life and inner tension to the form. The two integrate and echo each other, forming an organic whole. It is this perfect combination of mind and form that makes abstract calligraphy become the visualization of human emotion and spiritual world, and triggers endless thoughts and resonance in the viewers. The researcher comprehensively analyzes the emotional core and formal qualities of abstract calligraphy from both theoretical and empirical levels, providing a new perspective for a deeper understanding of the unique aesthetic value of this art form.

Digital Dreams and Dubious Dollars: The Challenge of Immersive Van Gogh

The purpose of this study is to discuss the popularity, questions, and controversies surrounding art-themed digital immersive exhibitions based on the life and paintings of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). Since 2019, art-themed immersive exhibits have become extremely popular, with attendance that outstrips many museums showing the same artists, spawning controversy and challenging the fine art world. This study examines the rise of immersive art experiences, arguments for and against immersive spectacles as a way of experiencing artwork, and theoretical perspectives. Methodologies include research into historical, cultural, and commercial contexts including reviews, analyses, critiques, and participant observation. The study discusses components of the exhibition and presents specific arguments for and against them by producers, art critics, critical theorists, and spectators. Questions considered include: Are these exhibitions offering authentic art experiences, or are they exploiting great art for profit? Are they making art more accessible, or are they leading people away from seeing original paintings? Is the way people relate to art fundamentally changing in the age of social media, and if so, how will museums adjust? This study is novel in that it presents and evaluates diverging viewpoints on these controversies and proposes a more flexible approach that centers participant experiences over marketing claims and critical objections.

INSTITUTIONAL ART CRITICISM IN 20TH- AND 21ST-CENTURY IN KAZAKHSTAN

The independence of Kazakhstan and its state sovereignty became important reforming factors in the new social fabric and worldview of the nation, its culture and art, the main component of which is the replacement of former political ideals and the mythologization of its own past. In Kazakhstan, official and unofficial art lives side by side and is displayed in various exhibition venues, which avoids a mindset of opposition and allows for art historians and curators to create divisions by preference. In Kazakhstan, there is a long-overdue need for serious comprehension of, and fixation on, artistic initiatives. Here, we are not regarding ‘fixation’ as the photography and videography of events; we need something different – analysis of the work of individual researchers, painting a picture of the direction of research and the development of the creative side of art criticism institutions in Kazakhstan. This article is an attempt to understand the realities of 21st-century Kazakhstani fine art. It is important to determine the most important institutions and bring the achievements of art criticism in Kazakhstan to the global community, based on the work of individual researchers. Aiming to grasp and examine the main directions and goals of contemporary art critics, we have discovered the individual directions and themes of leading researchers, which serves as a basis for the revealing the characteristic traits of art criticism in Kazakhstan through the prism of individual knowledge and passions.

ABSTRACT MANUAL OF ANTI-ART DEFIES CRITICS

This article on ir-relevance of Art criticism and its perpetrators, the maligned re-viewers, explores how close Kurt Schwitter`s points of reference here are aligned to ANTOA, the New Theory of Art. Schwitters (pronounce Sh-wit-ash) as main exponent of Hannover`s circle of avantgarde artists in interregnum between World War I and II (ca 1920 to 1939), was an accomplished yet often misunderstood creator, busy in fields of painting, sculpting, graphic design and literature. Furthermore the link between Schwitter`s influential quote on the value of „Abstract Non-Art“ and 1950ies/60ies phenomena of theatrical performance are investigated. This as much as application of points 3 – old make new, 4 – abstraction, where does it come from and where does it lead to?and 5 – message and symbolism, in relation to ANTOA, come under the spotlight.I begin with an imaginary question from my series ROLE OF ARTIST IN SOCIETY, 24 INTERVIEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

The splendors and miseries of narrativity the virtue of the fragment and the formation of clinicians in XXI century

I review the virtues and limitations of the narrative paradigm in contemporary clinical practice. I contrast ‘episodic’ and ‘diachronic’ forms of life, the former characterised by no particular predisposition to see one’s life in narrative terms and the tendency to experience oneself fragmentarily. After highlighting a progressive decline of storytelling in the current socio-cultural scenario, I show how a number of conditions (borderline-type personality and identity development in adolescence) are marked by reduced ability to organise narratively one’s own experiences. I emphasize a mismatch between the episodic and fragmentary phenomena characterizing these conditions and the prevailing opinion among clinicians belonging to academic culture that values instead the narrative paradigm. In the training of the clinicians, in addition to the necessary skills related to the diagnostic framing of the patient’s symptoms, and in addition to narrative competence, the capacity to embrace all that is fragmentary (that is, what at face value escapes diagnosis and narration) is necessary. I corroborate the approach with a theory taken from contemporary art criticism called ‘aesthetics of post-production’ and its capacity to re-signify the meaning of fragments by recontextualizing them. The personal ‘knots’ in the patient’s experience can be preserved and enhanced only through fragment-oriented listening.