About Robert Morris

Robert Morris is an American artist, sculptor, and writer. He is renowned for being one of the most prominent theorists of the art movement of Minimalism. Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s Robert Morris helped define three major art movements: Minimalist sculpture, Earthworks, and Process Art. He found inspiration through industrial processes and began working with aluminum and steel mesh. This later gave way to his workings with softer materials in his Process Art, such as felt. He found ways to interlink each theme in his artwork, creating minimalist sculptures that interacted with their environment in a natural way. One of his sculptures is featured on Western Washington University’s campus.

Robert Morris explores the concept of interactivity in a lot of his sculptures, it is a recurring theme that Morris has put a lot of thought in to. Morris is curious with the way his medium can change in the presence of a viewer and how the art involves itself with the environment. Morris also experiments with the effect of form simplicity on the experience of the viewer, allowing for a sculpture to stand on its own and create a directed experience for those who choose to interact with the sculpture. Morris’ intent with Untitled (Steam Works for Bellingham) is to create an area of interaction for viewers that is both simple and inherently meaningful.

With this sculpture, Morris looked at a bit of a bizarre sculptural medium, steam, something that is very un-sculptural, constantly changing and barely physical. He writes in his book “Continuous Project Altered Daily” about the translation of the medium, how paint should be celebrated for its liquid qualities, rather than confined by the paintbrush. Morris implements a similar idea in Untitled (Steam Works for Bellingham), allowing the steam to do as steam does, he works it into the sculpture but does not confine it. Morris does this to allow the viewer to experience the steam, pure and indifferent, while also interacting with the sculptural rock elements of his piece. The sculpture is a simple environmental addition that captures Morris’ artistic principles in a way that is unobtrusive but effective in its statement. It was created in a time of conflict, during the chaos of the Vietnam War. He focused on creating a calm and meditative presence with this steam work to inspire reflection among the audience.

Our Interpretation

Upon viewing this sculpture one can not help but feel a sense of peacefulness. His art inspires meditation and reflection, a quality that can be rare in our modern world. By leaving the art out in the open, it is up to the viewer to discern its purpose. Many have left their own mark, rearranging the natural rocks and leaving them stacked in precarious structures. The gentle flow of the steam can be seen at certain hours throughout the day, and often times right at sunset. You can’t help but be mystified by the gentle steam escaping from the pipelines underneath it. It is the gateway to an entire underground circuit of heat and resource use, reducing such a complex, dark, unseen system to one of peace, simplicity, and ease. It can be linked to the viewers life and inner workings. Often times our deeper thoughts and processes are hidden and are shown through a protective outer level. At times these deeper processes leak out like the steam and find way to the surface.

Channeling Abstract Expressionism

Learning about the different forms of artwork and the history behind them, we felt inspired by the idea of using the characteristics of the medium as a part of our artistic expression. Robert Morris made the sculpture with the intent of creating a piece that viewers could interact with. We took a piece of paper and incorporated it into the topography of the sculpture, placing rocks on and around it. Using liquid paint, we danced around the blank paper and splattered color everywhere. It was a liberating and exhilarating sensory experience.

Us

Adele Houston – painter & research

Mitchell Hiers – painter & research

Ginger Gionet – research & web design

Citations

“Robert Morris.” Guggenheim, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/robert-morris.

“Robert Morris Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-morris-robert.htm.

Unknown. “The Sculpture at Western.” Steam Works for Bellingham. N.P., N.D. Web. 20 Feb. 2018. https://wp.wwu.edu/MAMARISSA/WESTERNS-SCULPTURE/

Introduction to Minimal Art, understandingminimalism.com, Feb. 20, 2018, http://understandingminimalism.com/introduction-to-minimal-art/

Morris, Robert. Continuous project altered daily. 1970.