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No -Art: An American Psycho-Social Phenomenon - Leonardo
- The MIT Press
- Volume 4, Number 3, Summer 1971
- pp. 245-254
- Article
- Additional Information
NO-art was a cohesive, identifiable movement that lasted five years,
The NO-artists sought to shock the viewer by making larger than life its corrosive aspects. The intent was to uncover the decent elements in each person by direct confrontation with the deceits generally accepted. Social issues were examined and attacked.
The authors examine the social and psychological originations of NO-art and place it in art historical perspective. The authors see NO-artists as arising in reaction to the McCarthy era in the United States of America. In their opinion several American myths were exposed by the McCarthy hysteria; namely, that America can tolerate individual differences and that its form of government is sufficiently balanced to check excesses in any branch.
The authors offer as an additional understanding that the family and the upbringing of a child in it require conformism and rebellion. The excessive demand for submission results in emotional disorder and excessive anti-traditional {authority) strivings. The toilet-training period determines in good measure the coming struggle for social power and the moral values of the adult. Excessive emphasis upon control results in the later development of anal characteristics.
NO-art had many anal aspects; often their overt expression took the form of feces and even an entire exhibition of mounds of sculpted excrement. But the repugnance of the observer, say the authors, must not permit him to deny the esthetic aspect of these art products. Connections are made between NO-art and later developments in art and other social institutions.
Le
Ces artistes cherchaient à choquer le spectateur en faisant ressortir les aspects corrosifs de la vie. Leur intention était de faire tomber le masque de décence de chacun par une confrontation directe avec les duperies communément acceptées. Ils s’atta-quaient résolument aux problèmes sociaux.
Les auteurs étudient les origines sociales et psychologiques du
Les auteurs proposent une explication supplémentaire, selon laquelle le conformisme et la rébellion sont deux facteurs nécessaires de l’éducation d’un enfant au sein de la famille. Une exigence excessive de soumission améne des troubles émotionnels et entraîne des réactions de lutte contre la tradition et l’autorité. La période ou l’enfant apprend a être propre détermine pour une grande part la future lutte pour le pouvoir social, et les valeurs morales de l’adulte. Trop d’insistance sur la nécessité de se contrôler a pour conséquence la survivance de caractéres annaux au cours du développement ultérieur.
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