EPHEMERAL ART: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS, GENRES, ARTISTS AND WORKS - ART - 2024

The ephemeral art are all those physical manifestations that have a limited duration in time, being fleeting because the materials used and the compositions are temporary. His intention is to highlight the inevitable transience of life.

It has been linked to artistic expressions used in certain festive moments, so that after the event they are destroyed. Only in some cases is the work made up of preservative elements such as masks, dresses and sculptures that are kept for repetitive celebrations.

Yves Klein 1001 blue balloons release. Source: Frédéric de Goldschmidt www.frederic.net

When made with non-permanent materials, it gives the viewer a sense of privilege that means being able to perceive, even briefly, a piece that is unique and unmatched, which will soon cease to exist.

There is a second meaning with which ephemeral art is usually identified. This refers to artistic pieces that use environmental aspects or natural elements. The purpose in this case is to promote awareness of the human relationship with nature.

Among the compositional media are stones, earth, water, trees and plants, so this second meaning is not completely different from the first.

Origin

For a long time, the concept of beauty was rooted in permanence and immutability, so that everything that was changeable or temporary could not be considered art.

Although the idea of ​​beauty has been expanding since the 19th century, giving it other qualities such as transience, the origins of ephemeral art date back to the middle of the 20th century.

Contemporary art, as, in its various tendencies, was “de-objectifying” artistic works, rejecting traditional canons and deciding to move away from classical beauty.

Thus, art no longer focused on representing reality, but became an expression of the inner world, of the sensory and of constant change. It is in this context of openness and disruptive tendencies that ephemeral art takes its shape.

characteristics

Magic Fountain of Montjuic, one of the representative works of ephemeral art. Source: PierreSelim

Ephemeral art has many characteristics common to new trends in contemporary art. Among them is the intention of the artist, who seeks to express his feelings and his inner world, instead of reflecting reality.

It is an art that is directed more to the senses than to the intellect, so it requires little time to perceive it. To do this, he goes to instantaneity and simplicity.

The elements that are part of the artistic piece are usually perishable, because it is designed for their instantaneous disappearance. These include ice, sand, chalk, plants, food, or fireworks. It also consists of practices such as tattoos, makeup, performance, graffiti and fashion.

It is made up of passing manifestations that give the work a unique character, since they cannot be recreated twice in the same way.

The artist seeks to generate a communicative experience that is exhausted in the work, so that more than "fabricating" it, he produces it to be consumed.

His pieces are not collectible, that is, they cannot be kept in a physical place such as a museum or gallery to be viewed at another time. These were conceived to have an expiration date and, if they do not have an expiration date, it ceases to represent the meaning for which it was created. However, the moment can be captured by audiovisual means and then reproduced.

It aims to transcend the materialism of the tangible thing and give prevalence to the message, which underlies the transgression of preconceived formats or traditional canons.

Genders

The aesthetic conception of ephemeral art has allowed a diversity of trends, which in turn have given rise to other movements with a life of their own. Among the most common genres the following can be identified:

Nature

Nature is one of the quintessential elements of ephemeral art, given its temporal and transformative essence. Within this trend, gardening understood as the care and aesthetic arrangement of plants, trees and flowers, has been recognized even since ancient civilizations.

Water, whether in its liquid or solid state like ice, has also inspired many artists who represent this art. In the same way, sand and stones have been the protagonists of various manifestations.

It is worth mentioning two natural elements that, together with human developments, have given rise to representative works of ephemeral art. One of them is fire, for example through pyrotechnics, while the other is air, thanks to aerostatic devices.

Foods

The creation of new recipes, as well as the combination and arrangement of food in a certain way, contains all the characteristics of ephemeral art. For this reason, gastronomy is included among its genres.

Action

The happening, the performance, the environment and the installation are various forms of so-called action art, another genre of the ephemeral. In this trend, maximum emphasis is given to the creative act of the artist and involves the viewer, giving him a more active role. The theatrical component and the scenic elements will not be lacking in the works of this category.

Corporality

The human body has also had a place in ephemeral art. Hairstyles, makeup, tattoos, and piercing can be highlighted in this genre, which have been present in various cultures and over the years, either for aesthetic or ritual purposes.

Review that, on occasion, it has been a very controversial art concept. For example if you have joined nudes with action arts such as performances.

Technologies

Undoubtedly, technological advancement paved the way and sparked the creativity of many artists, who began to incorporate electricity, video, and sound into their works. Noteworthy in this genre is the use of laser or neon for the intervention of night environments. The computer has also been a catalyst for graphic design and web art.

Concepts

Body art and land art are two trends in conceptual art that use, respectively, the human body and the earth as artistic support. For them, art transcends material fulfillment and is found in the idea, in the creative process that takes place within the artist's mind.

Spaces

The temporary nature can also be perceived in the construction of buildings or in interventions in public and private spaces.

In the field of architecture, structures of a playful or ceremonial nature are often identified as part of ephemeral art. In the same way, urban manifestations can be found in graffiti-like inscriptions and the use of posters or stickers.

Artist

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988)

American-Japanese sculptor, set designer, landscaper, and designer famous for Akari lamps and his "coffee table" (1947). His works include the gardens of the UNESCO building in Paris and five fountains for the Supreme Court Building in Tokyo.

With stone, metal, wood, clay, bone or paper and using all kinds of techniques, Noguchi created pieces or intervened recreation areas and scenery. Detroit's James Scott Memorial Fountain can also be highlighted as an ephemeral work of art.

Gyula Kosice (1924- 2016)

Sculptor, theorist and poet born in the former Czechoslovakia. He is considered the great master of hydrokinetism, but he was also the first to use very particular materials in his pieces such as neon gas, plexiglass, aluminum and stainless steel.

Among his most outstanding works we can mention the sculptures achieved by manipulating water: the Vibration of the water spectrum (1962-1963) and the mobile Hydromural at the Embassy Center in Buenos Aires.

Jean-Jacques Lebel (1936)

Plastic artist, writer and creator of French origin, considered one of the most outstanding of action art specifically the happening. Improvisation, music and dialogue are characteristic of this current.

He is recognized for creating the first European happening: El entierro de la cosa. The "thing" was a sculpture by Jean Tinguely, which was executed and carried in procession along the canals of Venice until its final rest.

Representative works

Release of 1001 blue balloons

This hot air sculpture by Yves Klein is original from 1957. It consisted of launching a thousand and one helium-inflated balloons into the open sky of the St-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris. The event was held in connection with his exhibition dedicated to blue monochrome. The experience was then reproduced in 2007 in Place Georges-Pompidou in Paris, as part of a tribute to the artist.

Sun Tunnels

Nancy Holt's work is located in Utah, in the Great Basin Desert. It consists of four 18-foot-long tunnels that form an X, which contrast with the desert landscape.

Each solid concrete structure reacts to the sun differently, generating a play of light from the various perspectives. In addition, the tunnels have small holes that represent the constellations Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn, which in turn form patterns of light and shadow inside.

A line made by walking

Richard Long was the architect of this work of land art that consisted of a simple straight line on the grass of an English countryside. After walking insistently through the same area, this route was traced in the field that he photographed in black and white, remaining a landmark of contemporary art.

Magic Fountain of Montjuic

The work of the Spanish Carles Buïgas, it was built on the occasion of the Barcelona International Exposition (1929) and was located next to the Four Columns by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

It is a large circular fountain composed of waterfalls, ponds and luminous columns, which produce a play of lights and water. Since 1980 they have combined music with the millions of choreographic possibilities of water and light, making it one of the most legendary attractions in Barcelona.

References

1. Fernández Arenas, J. (1988). Ephemeral art and aesthetic space. Barcelona: Editorial Anthropos.
2. Ephemeral art. (2019, November 21). Wikipedia, The Encyclopedia. Recovered from wikipedia.org
3. Torrealba Posadas, Z. (2017, August). Ephemeral art: artistic works destined to disappear. Recovered from bicaalu.com
4. Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. (2004). Biography of Isamu Noguchi. In Biographies and Lives. The Biographical Encyclopedia Online. Barcelona, ​​Spain). Recovered from biografiasyvidas.com
5. Polack, E. (2016, May 26). Gyula Kosice: master of the kinetic art and father of the Hydrospace City. Recovered from lanacion.com.ar
6. Musée d ́Art Moderne et Contemporain. (sf). Jean-Jacques Lebel. Recovered from artmap.com