American Connections: The early works of Thomas Bang

TY - JOUR

T1 - American Connections

T2 - The early works of Thomas Bang

AU - Petersen, Anne Ring

PY - 2015/9/10

Y1 - 2015/9/10

N2 - The Danish artist Thomas Bang spent his early years in the USA. The works he created in this formative period were thus profoundly shaped by the contemporary movements in American art of the 1960s and 1970s when sculpture, or to be more precise, three-dimensional work became a hotbed of expansive experiments. This article traces how Bang made a radical move from painting to sculpture, which was characteristic of that time, and how he developed his artistic idiom by taking an active part in some of the seminal new departures in American art, in particular process art and post-minimalism. By leaping forward to Bang's later works produced after his return to Denmark, the article also demonstrates how the sculptural syntax and working principles developed in the early works still underlie and structure the artist's more allegorical sculptures and installations from the 2000s, thus testifying to the lasting impact of Bang's American period, which remains the key to understanding his works.

AB - The Danish artist Thomas Bang spent his early years in the USA. The works he created in this formative period were thus profoundly shaped by the contemporary movements in American art of the 1960s and 1970s when sculpture, or to be more precise, three-dimensional work became a hotbed of expansive experiments. This article traces how Bang made a radical move from painting to sculpture, which was characteristic of that time, and how he developed his artistic idiom by taking an active part in some of the seminal new departures in American art, in particular process art and post-minimalism. By leaping forward to Bang's later works produced after his return to Denmark, the article also demonstrates how the sculptural syntax and working principles developed in the early works still underlie and structure the artist's more allegorical sculptures and installations from the 2000s, thus testifying to the lasting impact of Bang's American period, which remains the key to understanding his works.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Amerikansk kunst

KW - Dansk kunst

KW - maleri

KW - skulptur

KW - 20, århundreds kunst

KW - installationskunst

KW - American art

KW - Danish art

KW - Painting

KW - Installation

KW - Sculpture

KW - 20th century art

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2190-3328

JO - RIHA Journal. Journal of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art

JF - RIHA Journal. Journal of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art

M1 - 0128

ER -