Usurping architecture : sculptural resistance to the built environment

Cilliers, Pieter Lafras

Usurping architecture : sculptural resistance to the built environment

Master Thesis

2008

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Usurping Architecture is a study in three parts. Part One explores the historical and theoretical basis that has informed my body of work. In this section, I explore the perfection of the depiction of the three-dimensional structure on a two-dimensional plane. This is specifically related to architecture. I then examine the role of geometric abstraction, as developed on the two-dimensional format, in sculptural strategies and their insertion in the lived, everyday environment.The role of geometric formalism is expanded on in the chapters on minimal art, where I explore the role of Gestalt psychology in creating a phenomenological response in the viewer. In the following chapters I indicate how the strategies employed by the minimal artists were used in subsequent decades as a response to the architectural environment. Part Two deals with the methodology related to my art-making processes. The first chapter of this section informs the reader about the general use of concrete as a material. The second chapter explains how I use this material in the construction of cast concrete sculptures. It describes the technical aspects of the process in detail. Part Three comprises a list of each work submitted for examination. The works are represented photographically and are accompanied by a short explanatory text.

Description

Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71).

Keywords

Fine Art

Reference:

Collections

Masters

Full item page