Theories of the Nonobject

Book excerpt: "Theories of the Nonobject investigates the crisis of the sculptural and painterly object in the concrete, neoconcrete, and constructivist practices of artists in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela, with case studies of specific movements, artists, and critics. Amor traces their role in the significant reconceptualization of the artwork that Brazilian critic and poet Ferreira Gullar heralded in 'Theory of the Nonobject' in 1959, with specific attention to a group of major art figures including Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Gego, whose work proposed engaged forms of spectatorship that dismissed medium-based understandings of art. Exploring the philosophical, economic, and political underpinnings of geometric abstraction in post-World War II South America, Amor highlights the overlapping inquiries of artists and critics who, working on the periphery of European and US modernism, contributed to a sophisticated conversation about the nature of the art object"--Provided by publisher.