The term "hard edge" was first coined in 1959 by American art critic Jules Langsner to describe a style of geometric abstraction exemplified by clearly defined fields of color along a flattened plane. Adopted by new generations of artists, this style went on to flourish in Europe and other parts of the world, eventually expanding to conceptualism and a return to representation. Installed within Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg's historic Haupteingang and Rittersaal, this show explores the evolution of "hard edge" over the last six decades while contemporizing the castle's grand and decorative spaces in new and surprising ways.
HARD EDGE(D) includes work by Math Bass, Daniel Buren, Michael Craig-Martin, Allan D'Arcangelo, Torben Giehler, Marcia Hafif, Peter Halley, Carmen Herrera, Robert Indiana, KAWS, Imi Knoebel, Nicholas Krushenick, Dóra Maurer, Kenneth Noland, and Ted Stamm.
More information: Hall Art Foundation
Peter Halley. Stacked Prisons, 2009
Acrylic, fluorescent, metallic, pearlescent acrylic and Roll-a-Tex on canvas.
183 x 99 cm / 72 x 39 in
Hall Art Foundation © the artist
Neo-Conceptual artist Peter Halley came to prominence in New York City's East Village in the early 1980s. His diagrammatic visual vocabulary including "cells" or "prisons" connected by "conduits" recalls both hard edge and minimalist lineages. Also a prolific essayist and critic, Halley's writings draw on the philosophical theories of French post-structuralist writers such as Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes and Paul Virilio. Halley has suggested that "if we see the geometric invested with the spiritual, then the geometrization of the space we live in and the geometrization of our lives becomes more acceptable."[1]
Throughout his career, Halley has utilized commercial materials such as fluorescent pigments and a paint additive called Roll-a-Tex, the latter producing a unique texture commonly used in construction, while the use of saturated tones recall the merchandise and styling of New Wave music. In the painting Stacked Prisons (2008), three "prisons" on three connected canvases are each divided by three horizontal lines into four equal sections. Bordered by Roll-a-Tex in silvery paint, the "prisons" are vertically arranged in different color and size formations. Halley's dedication to the grid recalls architectural aspects of urban living, including office towers, parking lots, and institutional imprisonment, as well as emerging technology and the introduction of the personal computer.
[1] Halley in Geometry and the Social. Published in Balcon, Madrid, n. 8-9 (1991): 64-84. Accessed online: https://www.peterhalley.com/geometry-and-the-social
KAWS. SCORE YEARS, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
228,5 x 183 cm / 90 x 72 in
Hall Collection © the artist
The New York-based artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly), whose entry to fine art began with graffiti and public collage, isolates elements of popular cartoons in his paintings. In SCORE YEARS (2019), rounded forms evocative of animation "cell" painting intersect with flattened lines and their shadows, creating a web of hard-edged shapes that suggest barriers and separation. The painterly construction of depth acts as a trompe-l'oeil, an optical illusion employed by Renaissance artists concerned with perspective, while the flat planes of color align with the principles of hard edge painting. KAWS' simplest forms are indebted to his early poster work, which bear similarities to the subway drawings of the late street artist Keith Haring. Working in public necessitated what KAWS described as "stuff that's a quick read. You're competing against thousands of kids, and you learn from people who have done it before you."[2]
[2] KAWS quoted in Nelson, Arty. Generation XX: How Kaws Short-Circuited the Art World. GQ, August 5, 2019. Accessed online: https://www.gq.com/story/kaws-profile-brian-donnelly-short-circuited-art-world