The classification provides four or more codes placed on four axis (A - formalism, B - matériality, C - involvement body/mind, D - communication). These codes are positionning the artist in the art history.
A axis : FORMALISM
When looking at the work, what type of formalisation first strikes the eye? Is it more abstract or more figurative, etc ? (on a scale from more "immaterial" to more "realist").A240 : Allusive inclusion of figures (or real objects ) in the abstract
More or less realistic figurative elements, more or less important but not going beyond details in a predominantly abstract work (Fernand Léger, Jan Voss, Antoni Tàpies, W. De Kooning, the "Combine Paintings" of R.Rauschenberg, ...).
B axis : MATERIALITY
How does the materiality of what is shown come across?
(on a scale from more "immaterial" to more "real").B180 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: mixed materiality: structured / unstructured
when a work is "structured" in its "lack of structure", and vice versa (repetition of forms, signs, matter ... Viallat, Toroni, Degottex, Hantaï,...). B130 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: unstructured slight materiality
colours and material are more or less understated, diluted, evanescent, playing with their transparence (Zao Wou Ki, Olivier Debré, …). B230 : Materiality
in painting, but also with all other materials with the following possibilities: Structured structured combinations
any combinations of lines, colours, matter or volumes of a more structured type (Michail Heizer, Anish Kapoor, Miguel Barceló, ...).
C axis : INVOLVEMENT BODY/ MIND
With what body:mind ratio does the artist enter into his work?
Classify from the most "intellectual" (e.g."Concept Art"...) to the most "physical" (e.g. "Body Art", ...).C130 : towards the intellectual side/ the essence of things inward looking work chiefly oriented towards: l'introspective
inner landscapes, emotions, feelings (Arpad Szenes, ...), serenity (Yves Klein's "Monochromes", ...), equilibrium ("mandalas" of Augustin Lesage or Adolf Wölfli, ...), memory (Boltenski "boxes", ...). C190 : tending towards the corporeal / the senses the work as the result of an action gestural
the work as the result of a bodily movement, chiefly a hand movement: from Jackson Pollock's "Dripping" to Georges Mathieu's "Lyrical Abstraction", L. Fontana's "perforations" to the flayed figures of V. Vélickovic.
D axis : COMMUNICATION
Does the artist have the deliberate intention to convey a message of any sort through his work?
(classified from the most "mystical" to the most "worldly").D150 : via what is meaningful
based on the idea that work on what symbolizes forms an intentional message in itself (for example: Daniel Dezeuze's "Stretchers", etc., etc., ...). because the work itself contains a really clear message
(Jenny Hölzer's illuminated messages, texts by Ben or On Kawara, ...). D140 : via what is meaningful
based on the idea that work on what symbolizes forms an intentional message in itself (for example: Daniel Dezeuze's "Stretchers", etc., etc., ...). exploration and variations on a theme or on a single resource (object, material, ...)
to make it express the maximum (Cézanne's "Saintes Victoires", Andy Warhol's "Marylins" , Rutault's "methods", "bodies" by J. and D. Chapman, or by Katharina Fritsch, ...) or of a single resource (objects, materials, etc.: G. Titus Carmel's "bananas"; Miralda's "soldiers"; Damien Hirst's "cigarette butts" ...) in order to explore all its facets
BASSIN Daniel
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