Speaking of Abstraction: A Universal Language (1999)

Speaking of Abstraction: A Universal Language

1999

Documentary

Synopsis

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, abstraction - that most quintessentially modernist innovation - maintains a peculiarly contradictory position. Used, on one hand, by post-modernist artists as just one more quotable style amongst many, it is on the other hand still considered an elitist or hermetic language by audiences intimidated by its lack of recognizable subject matter. Yet ultimately, abstraction continues to be a viable creative path for contemporary artists of all generations, many of whom embrace it as the most inclusive and fundamentally resonant of artistic languages. Filmed at the artists' studios, the Dia Center for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Museum during their exhibition, "Abstraction in the Twentieth Century."

Credits

Director

Michael Blackwood

Cast

Brice Marden as Himself

Gerhard Richter as Himself

Günter Umberg as Himself

Günther Förg as Himself

Helmut Federle as Himself

Jonathan Lasker as Himself

Philip Taaffe as Himself

Richard Serra as Himself