Casualism

Regular readers will know that I use a lot of single-word titles, and there’s a vin diagram where this group (yes, you guys) significantly overlaps with at least familiarity if not overt interest in or attention paid to Casualism in Art. It’s pretty much a label for a tendency among painters, but again, you probably knew that. The Wikipedia article on the same is succinct if you need to get up to speed (and has a ton of links btw).

It’s a term I’ve only become familiar with shortly before writing this blog, as this critical idea emerged originally while I was away from the discourse earlier in the 2000s. Having noted a colleague reference it recently, and reading below, well…

(from Wiki) “The term Casualism was coined in a 2011 essay which defined a new type of postminimalist painting that features a self-amused, anti-heroic style with an interest in off-kilter composition and impermanence. These artists are interested in a studied, passive-aggressive irresoluteness that reflects wider insights about culture and society.”

Given that I’ve described my practice as seriously un-serious, I have an entire project dedicated to impermanence, I embrace automatic drawing (a form of anti-heroism where an author relinquishes at minimum the direction or beginning of authorship), I believe work doesn’t even exist without a viewer, and central to my practice is the notion that two or more things can both be true at the same time, it sure sounds like if there ever was an “ism” to which I adhere…

“Yes,” there are creatives that have been featured on this blog which are also on Sharon‘s original list of Casualists (Cordy, Keltie, Chris, Rebecca and others). Also nice to understand a bit more deeply why I am so attracted to the cohort of writers Sharon has pulled together over at Two Coats of Paint.