Peter Cripps towards an elegant solution Public Projects (Fiction), Series 2, II, 1993.
Peter Cripps towards an elegent solution Above and Below Ground Projects: Blackbird 12R, 1971 Installed at Mildura Sculpture Triennial 1973 Angle iron, cast aluminium, brass, canvas, stainless steel and rope 305 + 152.5 x 12.20 x 172.37cm. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz. Bio Peter Cripps was born in Sunshine, Victoria in 1948. Cripps early tertiary education was in agriculture, and between 1965 and 1972 he worked as a professional apiarist in rural Victoria, which he continued while at art school. He started training as an artist in 1967, and until 1968 studied at Frankston Technical College, completing a Certificate of Art. He attended the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) from 1969 to 1972, graduating with a Fellowship Diploma. At RMIT he met his most influential teacher, Margaret Plant, and was taught in sculpture by a number of the Centre Five artists, in particular Vincent Jomantas and Inge King. Their collaborations with architects and their emphasis on the democratic relationship between sculpture and architecture were particularly influential on Cripps. His work is held comprehensively in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australian National, Canberra and most state galleries in Australia, as well as numerous corporate and private collections internationally. Since 1989 Peter Cripps has taught sculpture in the School of Art at RMIT. Exhibition Over a forty year period, Peter Cripps practice of object based works and sculptural installations have continued to explore the relationships between object and display, context and the evolution of interpretation from one period to the next. Artist, curator and educator, Cripps has worked in Australian museums, galleries, universities and the related art industry since the 1970s. His major survey exhibition displayed in all of ACCA s exhibition spaces presents a series of meticulous structures that investigate the development of radical modernism and spatial practice in Australian art. This exhibition is the first major survey of Peter Cripps work. In keeping with Cripps own curatorial endeavours of the 80s, the exhibition will change twice during the show s installation. This will enable a comprehensive and episodic understanding of Cripps practice, and allow the re-presenting some works not seen since their first exhibition. Cripps observed that he had two careers, one as an artist and another working in museums and galleries. Carolyn Barnes, Peter Cripps: Art & other strategies The artist The museum professional From 1966 Cripps worked on a series of photographs In 1973, Cripps was appointed Assistant Curator of and models dealing with constructed space. In 1968 Exhibitions at the National of Victoria. During this he began developing constructions above and below period he travelled with exhibitions throughout Australia, ground. From this series a large work was developed: in particular with the exhibition Some Recent American Blackbird 12R, which was shown at the Mildura Sculpture Triennial in 1973. Cripps also produced a significant number of American artists, such as Sol Lewitt, Yvonne Art. At this time Cripps also worked as an assistant to a number of small constructions from 1968 on. By the Rainer and Carl Andre. During his time at the NGV, early 1970s, these objects had assumed the distinctive Cripps also worked on the exhibition Object and Idea. form of a projection into space. Over 15 years from 1989 Cripps was director of the Institute of Modern Art in Cripps produced a key series of exhibitions at City, which became Anna Schwartz. Cumulatively include Robert MacPherson Survey (1985), Recession Brisbane from 1983 to 1986. Key exhibitions he curated these exhibitions comprise major investigative research Art and other Strategies (1986), Q Space + Q Space into the dialogue between the object and its relationship Annex 1980+1981 (1986) and a number of international with the space in which is is presented and with the body exhibitions, including the work of two central Buro Berlin of the viewer. Early shows in this series were concerned artists, Fritz Rahman (1987) and Raymond Kummer with the nature, dynamics and history of the object in the (1988). museum space and with the culture of museology itself.
The art of display The Duchamp Effect Like many artists of his generation, Cripps was influenced by conceptual art. In 1968, as a young art student, Cripps attended a Marcel Duchamp exhibition at the National of Victoria finding an artist whose work hinged on sophisticated analyses of culture and meaning. Cripps was most struck by Duchamp s Boîte-en-Valise (1935-1941), a wooden box encased in a leather satchel containing reproductions of Duchamp s work, both prints and small replica objects. The Boîte-en-Valise explored the technological circulation of artworks in modern society and art s shaping by museums and art history. Cultures of display A central interest of Peter Cripps art practice has been the production and presentation of cultural objects in the context of the art museum. He is concerned with the archives and construction of history and of art history. Following Duchamp, Cripps developed his practice as a autobiographical archive of objects, investigating how things and practices gain meaning and cultural legitimacy. Shells of past activity biography included the steam engines he had made as a teenager, accompanied by a homemade plywood suitcase his father had used in the navy. Through his practice Cripps investigates the very history of the museum display methods, from the 18th century cabinet of curiosities to the white cube of 20th century modernism. Posing the question is there an alternative to the accepted institutional space? What other types of art museums might exist? Strategies He cites two museums particularly that fulfill an alternative model of history making and display: the Stadlisches Museum Abteiberg Monchengladbach, Germany, which Cripps admires as a contemporary museum with an overtly selective reading of contemporary art; and the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne, an autobiographical museum created by the maverick musician and composer Percy Grainger, a highly personalized gesture by an individual able to manage his own narrative. For Cripps, both museums accurately declare their intentions up front. I m interested in the history which is selective in the sense that it is about bias inherent in investigating and analyzing a particular body of work I think that one problem of the contemporary museum is their lack of commitment to a particular reading of history. It needs to be made clear that there is no such thing as a neutral position. Peter Cripps Marcel Duchamp, La Boîte-en-Valise [Box in a Suitcase], 1935-1941 Entering du Prel s projection: shells from past activity, 1976 fabricated constructions 7 tables, cloths, veils, documentation placed on painted canvas Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Namelessness Untitled, 1988 gesso on canvas 366 x 362 cm Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased 1991 Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz In 1989-90, Cripps presented his theatre piece Namelessness. Designed to be performed in art galleries, it is part theatre, part performance art, installation, and sculpture. The title of the work derives from the very namelessness of the work s genre in terms of art production categories. A work about a museum dedicated to the work of a musican performed in an art museum. In format Namelessness draws inspiration from experimental Dadaists and Constructivist theatre of the1920 s. Using rotating sets, sculptures and actors the work aimed to change the viewers perception of the museum and to provoke them to question the situation in which they normally viewed art. Cripps was interested in the idea of museums and their role in the construction of history and social memory, challenging the idea that museums are, or should be, neutral spaces that present history as objective or true. Cripps believes history is actively created by cultures and individuals. It is partly for this reason that for Cripps, the Granger Museum stands in opposition to the Australian public art museum, because it epitomises the deliberately fabricated museum. A personal archive established by the composer.
The display of art The diversity of Peter Cripps past activities as a curator, gallery director and publisher has influenced his practice. The institutions of the museum and modes of display have been pivotal interests explored in many of Cripps works made from the late 70s onwards. Cripps has continued to return to this interrogation of the museum s neutrality in many of his object based installations. Larger works such as Another History for H.B. and R.L., continues Cripps interest in drawing attention to the physical and ideological space of the modern art museum, modes of display, and the way we interpret objects as art in these spaces. His works frequently mimic museum display techniques. The initials in the title refer to Bauhaus designer Herbert Bayer. Bayer s exhibition design attempted to form a total space which would fully implicate viewers and lead them to a planned and direct reaction. Cripps responds to this by creating a spatial system of surfaces and supports that are completely visible. Alternatively absorbed or reflected by the installation s surfaces, the viewer s presence is necessary for the completion of the work. Another History for H.B. and R.L., 1991 masonite panels on wooden frames, mirror finish panels, steel legs, installed dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Field Theory, 1996 mirrors and synthetic polymer paint on wood 13 parts: overall dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Viewpoints Cripps challenges the traditional methods of displaying art by presenting works protruding from walls or ceilings, in his work Field Theory he places the art on the gallery floor thereby dispensing with the plinth all together. This subverts the way the viewer interacts with and views the works. Mirror works construction series Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Real Objects in the World, 1993 Medium density fibreboard dimensions variable, individual objects approx. 180cm diameter Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Body and space Peter Cripps works predominantly by creating constructed installations. He has worked with mirrors, cardboard cylinders, tin cans, circular cardboard boxes, and wood. Cripps displays works in such a way that they are like an extension of pre-existing architectural structures, or situtates them within a space by linking them to the surrounding architecture. His concern is with the in-between spaces and how our bodies navigate and complete the gallery space. He often creates works to match the scale and height of his own body as demonstrated in the installation Real Objects in the World, a series of octagonal objects that hinder easy movement, and have no clear viewpoint. Visitors have to move around these octagonal forms, extending their perspective, and perceiving the objects and displays from all directions.
Materials & Techniques Tinker Peter Cripps materials and techniques can be traced back to the influence of his family. Cripps father worked as a refrigerator repairman, as a child he would often accompany his father to supermarkets. Watching his father dissecting the refrigerators aroused his interest in investigating the way things work and how they are constructed. As a teenager he tinkered with scraps and metal off-cuts from his father s tool shed to create moving mini steam engines. The artist s mother took him to musical and theatre performances which inspired his interest in art theatre and set-design. Construct Continuing his interest in the construction of things, Cripps 1990 s series of free standing objects known as Public Projects adhered closely to the Russian Constructivist ethos employed by Soviet artists such as Vladimir Tatlin. In 1920 Tatlin proposed a futuristic monument entitled 3rd International Tower, emphasising abstract geometric shapes and functional parts. The Constructivists believed that design began with construction, including industrial fabrication of materials. Building as object Public Project is an ongoing series of work ranging in size from small-scale works to large public sculptures. For this exhibition at the ACCA Cripps has created the first large-scale Public Project work realised. Over seven metres in height, the Public Project sculpture will be displayed on the Sturt Street forecourt of ACCA. Turning a quizzical eye in the form of five convex mirrors on the exterior of ACCA and its immediate neighbourhood, Cripps pair of big brotheresque mirror towers reflect the centre, a building which self-consciously declares itself a sculpture in which to show art, itself an offspring of monumental minimalism. Peter Cripps, Above and Below Ground Projects: Model, 1968, plated metal, brass, steel. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Model for the 3rd International Tower, Vladimir Tatlin 1919-1920 Peter Cripps, Public Projects (Fiction), Series 2, II, 1993. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz
Glossary International Modernism FORM IS FUNCTION Bauhaus is a German expression, meaning house for building. In 1919, the economy in Germany was collapsing after a crushing war. Architect Walter Gropius was appointed to head a new institution that would help rebuild the country and form a new social order. Called the Bauhaus, the Institution called for a new rational social housing for the workers. Bauhaus architects rejected bourgeois details such as cornices, eaves, and decorative details. They wanted to use principles of Classical architecture in their most pure form: without ornamentation of any kind. The term International Style was applied to the American form of Bauhaus architecture. Constructivism ART OF THE EVERYDAY A movement in modern art originating in Moscow in 1920 following World War I and characterized by the use of industrial materials to create abstract, nonrepresentational paintings or sculpture. The belief of art for art s sake was dispensed with and in its place an emphasis on the importance of art for social purposes, it aspired to bring art into everyday life. Constructivist art was closely allied with the De Stijl (Holland) and Bauhaus School (Germany) movements both influenced by the development of art, architecture and industrial design. Minimalism LESS IS MORE Is a term used to describe paintings and sculpture that thrive on simplicity in both content and form, and seek to remove any sign of personal expressivity. The aim of Minimalism is to allow the viewer to experience the work more intensely without the distractions of composition or theme. From the 1920s artists such as Malevich and Duchamp, produced works in the Minimalist vein but the movement is known chiefly by its 1960s and 1970s American exponents such as Dan Flavin, Ellsworth Kelly and Donald Judd. Minimal Art relates to Conceptual Art in the way the finished work exists merely to convey a theory. Conceptualism ART OF THE IDEA Leading conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s Sol Le Witt and Joseph Kosuth, both exemplified the conceptualist notion that genuine art is not a unique or valuable physical object created by the physical skill of the artist - like a drawing, painting or sculpture - but instead is a concept or an idea. Le Witt attached great importance to the primacy of the idea stating, all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. His attitude can be illustrated by the fact that many of his works can be constructed by anyone who follows his written instructions. http://www.annaschwartzgallery.com/works/works?artist=52&c=m http://www.ima.org.au/pages/.exhibits/why-do-we-do-the-things-we-do106.php Further reading
Curriculum links Visual Communication & Design >Peter Cripps creates structures that investigate the development of radical modernism and design in Australian art. Investigate the origins of modernism and design in Australian art, looking at a range of Australian artists. >Do a series of observational freehand drawings of the structures of the installations of Peter Cripps. Include both a one and two point perspective drawing and depict the surface details of each structure, including materials and texture. >In relation to the work of Peter Cripps, discuss how a historical style and and movement influences the production of contemporary visual communication. Look at the Bauhaus School as design movement the how it may have influenced his work. Art >As part of his Public Project at ACCA, Peter Cripps has installed works in both the interior and exterior of the building. Cripps external mirrors reflect the surrounding environment and are displayed in a public area. Look at a range of public art around Melbourne. Research the artists who created the works you look at and discuss and compare their works to that of Cripps. > How important do you think the display and layout of Cripps installation is to interpreting his work? >How does Cripps critique museum culture in his practice? What is he saying? Studio Art >Peter Cripps displays found objects in gallery spaces. Look at the work of Marcel Duchamp. Consider what both Duchamp and Cripps are saying about the notion of an art object. Discuss your thoughts on this idea. >What types of museums currently exist? What strategies has Cripps used in his artistic practise to demonstrate this? > How does Cripps career as a curator influence his artist practice? Theatre Studies >Explore Avant-Garde Theatre, focusing on the works of Andre Breton and Salvador Dali. >Study the minimalist theatre of Samuel Beckett by exploring his playscripts Lessness and Waiting for Godot. Research the contexts, origins, theatrical styles, production processes, use of stagecraft and performance possibilities of each playscript. In groups, do a number of practical workshops involving the application of stagecraft for each playscript.