In this unit, we have been discussing the high art-low art continuum. I begin addressing this in the Fluxus lecture (see in part
icular the slide with the table and the following slide) and continue to bring in the concept during subsequent units on Neo-Dada and Pop, but it applies to this entire section on Art of the Everyday, the mid-1950s-60s including Nouveau Realisme. Discuss each of the following works in terms of the concept of high art. Remember that high artists in the 1960s often deliberately made choices that were intended to collapse either the high art and low art divide, or the art and non-art divide. Each of these works is a work of high art. What about each of them makes them high art? Each of these works also has aspects that would not traditionally be considered high art or art at all. What are these low art or non-art elements? What choices have the artists made that have the potential to diminish or detract from the high art status or art status of the work? NOUVEAU REALISME: Arman, Le Plein (Filled Up), 1960. Installation at Iris Clert Gallery, Paris. FLUXUS: Alison Knowles, #5 Street Piece (1962). Event score for performance. POP (LA): Edward Ruscha, Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963. Oil on canvas.
