Gigantism

MODERN art has always had an affinity for the gargantuan. Ironically, its very reductivism—a preference for simplicity, stripped-down geometric form and a disdain for the exquisitely made objet d’art destined for a rich collector’s mantelpiece—often meant an increase in scale. From Vladimir Tatlin’s (never built) “Monument to the Third International”, designed just after the Russian revolution, to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica”, which he completed nearly two decades later, artists hoping to make an impact on a world dominated by mass media and mass production had to go big even to get noticed.

A tendency towards the oversized was particularly pronounced in the final third of the 20th century as modernism grew middle-aged and comfortable. Creating artworks on a scale so vast that no one could possibly buy them, and few galleries could even show them, was one way of demonstrating a contempt for the marketplace that cheapened creativity even as it inflated prices. Multi-storey creations made from industrial materials and acre-sized works bulldozed into remote desert landscapes offered an alternative to the empty glitz of chic urban...

from The Economist: Books and arts http://ift.tt/1Mwk4Rj