UNMONUMENTAL

UNMONUMENTAL
Going to pieces in the 21st Century
by Lisa Hoptman
Summary by Dione McCarthy
Sculpture, in itʼs new form, can be seen at the forefront of Contemporary Art.
Having broken free from the traditional framework of sculpture, it seems to have no
boundaries and at times is quite undefinable. Contemporary Art is about the now, the
present, combining objects natural and man-made, of all shapes, sizes and appearances in
a seemingly random mish mash of ʻassemblageʼ.

Lisa Hoptman sees ʻassemblageʼ as the strategy and the ʻunmonumentalʼ as the outcome,
the final sculpture. This ʻassemblageʼ comes from the excesses of todayʼs society and how
we deal with it. Contemporary sculptors, collect, filter, select and assemble this excess
almost randomly to create their artwork.

The use of found objects can be seen in European experiments as early as the beginning
of the 20th century. During the 1950ʼs, Jean Debuffet gave the combining of the objects in
an apparently random manner, the title ʻassemblageʼ. However, it was William Seitz who
put this forward as an artistic strategy in his exhibition ʻThe Art of Assemblageʼ in 1961.
Contemporary sculpture can also be seen as having links to the neo, neo avant garde.
Rather than a blending of materials, it is the juxtaposition of the forms that allow the
objects to be seen as both a single entity and as part of a whole. In the late 1950ʼs, early
60ʼs, Robert Rauschenberg, through his series, Combinesʼ, introduced new criteria to
Contemporary art. It became more about content rather than narrative. He believed that
his works were dependent as much on chance as on the precise placement of objects
allowing for an often uncertain outcome. Through the juxtaposition of objects he
transformed them from everyday to the mysterious forming the unimaginable.

Apart from today's technology, the difference between the 20th and 21st centuries is that of
how the artistʼs objects are organised. Although at times it seems that the objects are
assembled randomly, the artist has meaning behind each piece and how itʼs placed. Each
object is fused together to create a clear narrative. This ʻassemblageʼ, lacking many of the
traditional ruling styles of past sculpture, can be seen more as a result of the turmoil of todayʼs society rather than a reflection of it.