Six cathode-ray tube monitors, canvas, and painted plywood
Coming of age in Germany in the wake of World War II, Vostell was haunted by the widespread wreckage he had witnessed. In 1954 he proposed a new form of artmaking premised on creation through destruction: unlike the process of collage, in which an image is built up from existing images, the technique he called décollage involved cutting, tearing away, or removal—destroying a picture to create a new work of art. In TV-Dé-coll/age, Vostell slashed a canvas behind which we can glimpse six television screens, displaying montages of news footage, static, and even a straight line. But no clear signal comes through, as each TV feed is further obscured by visual noise and snow.
2023
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Acting Out
Gallery 405Around the world, in the 1950s and ’60s, artists found new ways to make their mark. Instead of applying paint with a brush, they painted with their feet, stained and soaked canvases with thinned pigment, or poured vibrantly hued dyes on tin.
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