Modernism is a movement that surfaced during the 20th century; it was not considered a specific style, like other movements, but rather a compilation of ideas compiled from painting, deriving from traditional expectations, particularly representation in a realistic style. This essay will analyze two texts, one written by the art critic Clement Greenberg, on his vision of modernism; the other a chapter by Craig Staff concerning the place of painting in the art world. An artwork by artist Ian Davenport, titled “Giardini Colourfall,” will then be analyzed and discussed in relation to the two texts. Throughout the essay, the ideas of modernism will be uncovered, allowing for a better understanding of the term and providing insight into the painting in relation to its development over the years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay “Modernist Painting” by Clement Greenberg discusses the term modernism and what Greenberg thought it implied. His essay was published in 1961, approximately 100 years after the author believed modernism had begun. Interestingly, he did not view it as a movement limited to a specific period of time, but rather as an ongoing practice. In Greenberg's own words, he declared that modernism would continue "without interruption or rupture" (1961) and believed that it was not limited to art, but was in fact everywhere around us. Greenberg and art historians agree that the first modernist paintings were those of Manet, because of the way he approached the surface he painted on. However, the origin of modernism for Greenberg began with the philosopher Immanuel Kant, calling him "the first true modernist." (1961). His fundamental idea of ​​modernism is that the medium, in this case painting, is used as a method to criticize itself. For example, Kant used logic to discover the limits of logic itself; therefore, painting is used to determine the limits of what painting can do without crossing over with another medium. Criticism comes from within, looking specifically at the characteristics of the medium, rather than introducing external factors to evaluate the technique. Modernist artwork is a way of making art visible through the use of its medium. For Greenberg, it was essential that art be "pure", that is, self-defining and not possess the qualities that can be found in other areas of art. art. Limiting support was shared with theater, reality shared with photography, three-dimensionality with sculpture; the only property specific to the paint was flatness. Although no painting can be completely flat, since the first mark made immediately destroys the complete flatness of the surface, modernist painting focused on keeping it as flat as possible, leading to unrecognizable images and later to the removal of any identifiable or representative object, as anything that can be recognized must exist in the three-dimensional plane, which gives it properties related to photography or sculpture. Modernism discovered that it was possible to remove aspects of paintings before they lost their “picture” status. The further back one goes, the closer the piece has to be observed, but the medium becomes more defined and brings back the idea of ​​"flatness", forcing the viewer to focus on what the piece offers as a whole. This technique limited what could be done with the medium, but it wasspecific to painting alone, thus ensuring its place within art. An example Greenberg gives of a modernist piece is Mondrian's rectangles. Unlike previous works produced by the masters, he created a space in his work that could only be felt through the eye. Greenberg points out that modernism is all about optical experiments, no theory is involved, it is strictly about practice and artists often do not consider aesthetics, it is all about results and not about method. The second text I consulted was a chapter called “situating painting” from the book “After Modernist Painting: The History of a Contemporary Practice” by Craig Staff. The book was published in 2013, a little over 50 years after Clement Greenberg's text. Staff has therefore since seen work influenced by different movements such as post-modernism. Greenberg wanted to separate painting and keep it within the confines of what painting alone can do by removing all the properties of other art forms. On the contrary, Staff discusses the difficulties of organizing painting in a singular category as the work produced can be vast and difficult to situate. In the text he states: "Morgan Falconer believed that the revival of painting was due to its expansion beyond its original means." The team believes that it is not and should not be a restricted method of expression; it must be continually developed, expanding what a painting is. Contrary to what Greenberg believed, Staff explains that painting is not limited to the canvas; During the Renaissance, artists painted directly on the walls, in this case the walls serve as a support for the painting. Rich people with big walls commissioned artists to paint large paintings, but the increase in work led Greenberg to argue that the work was too close to architecture rather than painting. The creation of the easel was seen as something of a solution to this problem because it allowed the work to be developed independently. In the text, Staff talks about two artists Katharina Grosse and Jules Olitski, who both used spray guns to produce works of art. Olitski focused primarily on color throughout his working years, until around the mid-1960s he began to consider canvas more, limiting his work within the confines of the edge of the canvas, often leaving them intact or applying only a thin layer of paint. This refers to the properties of paint that Greenberg discussed in relation to modernism. Olitski and Grosse's work shows the dematerialization of painting, with an emphasis on process and experimentation with the material, which also relates to Greenberg's idea of ​​modernism, as their work examines this what painting can do as a medium in its own right. Although some aspects of Grosse's work resemble the qualities of modernism, she does not allow the supporting edges to restrict her work, which is aided by her method of using aerosol cans; she does not have direct contact with the surface, she thinks that the brushes are in her way, this automatically creates a certain distance between her and the surface on which she is working. His large scale works and unusual surfaces, for example the walls of random buildings, are due to his desire to separate his works from a specific site and any identity imposed on the work due to the site in which it is located . site-specific art, the work produced was designed to fit a specific location, which almost made the location part of the work, setting boundaries. Since the years1980, situation-specific artworks emerged, as they are more to be considered when exhibiting a work. Staff specifies throughout the text, through the examples of these two artists and their work, that there are too many aspects to consider to be able to completely situate the place of painting. The work I have chosen to discuss in relation to the two aforementioned texts is a piece by Ian Davenport called Giardini Colourfall. It is a site-specific work that takes its name from the location for which it was created, The Venice Giardini. The area is a park where an arts organization called the Venice Biennale hosts the Venice Biennale Arts Festival, for which Davenport's piece was created in 2017, commissioned by the famous watch company Swatch. The painting is composed of systematic vertical lines of acrylic that have been carefully poured from the top of an aluminum panel, creating a pool of fused colors at the bottom. It is one of the largest works created by the artist, measuring 3.8 meters high and 14 meters wide; The pool of colors that gather at the bottom extends about 1 meter from the panel wall. The choice of chromatic colors is inspired by some of the great masterpieces of the following artists: Gustave Klimt, Claude Monet and Pietro Perugino, but Davenport's work explores much more saturated colors, making the painting bright and bold. There are no recognizable images contained within the work as the results are purely dominated by chance and gravity, once the preliminary stage of pouring the paint is complete. It is difficult to decipher any symbolism as the work appears to be more focused on method than the results produced, thus relating to both modernism and abstract expressionism since, like Jackson Pollock, Davenport uses a style called action painting; in this case, he uses pouring; other examples include splashes and drips. The piece as a whole is quite pleasing to the eye because of the combination of beautiful colors with controlled lines, but the transition from lines to swirls in a pool is what makes it so interesting. Not only does it combine two surfaces and show the result of what the painting does when one meets the other, but it also brings the painting closer to the viewer, it occupies the floor space, as we do, it takes space. you don't expect to pick it up, which sets it apart from other paintings. The use of both surfaces pushes the artwork into an expanded field, leaving its title as “painting” in question. This is not just a painting on canvas sitting on a gallery wall. The wall itself acts as a canvas, as does the floor. The uniqueness of the surface used takes the artwork away from what one might consider a painting, but is not quite what one would expect from a sculptural piece. Another example would be a piece of art by Pinot Gallizio, called industrial painting. “Giardini Colourfall” by Ian Davenport has connections to different aspects of the two texts discussed previously. The work shares the qualities of what Greenberg considers to be the properties of modernism. Davenport's work depends on paint's ability to be a liquid that dries to a solid form; the characteristics are therefore more important than the promise of an aesthetic result. In Greenberg's eyes, modernism focused on practice rather than producing works based on symbolism or theory. Furthermore, Giardini Colourfall contains no identifiable images, nothing that links it to the three-dimensional plane in which we exist, it is a completely optical experience. The absence of images.