In the first text of Art in theory, art critic Leo Steinberg talks about Rauschenberg’s approach to having art presented in a horizontal way, shifting from the old masters way focusing on nature into a more cultural way of presenting work.

in 50’s people were still used to always seeing art in front of us (head to foot) and then Rauschenberg had the idea of a flat surface presentation, to look at art horizontally. Steinberg describes that shift as a “radical shift in the subject matter of art” (Steinberg, p.950) which indicates the importance and intensity, following with “a shift from nature to culture” which highlights the big change in ideals and views.

In the second text, due to Richard Serra’s work Tilted Arc being removed from the specific site and destroyed by the government agency, he reveals his perspective of site specific work in a lecture.

Serra referred to his site specific sculptures to “never decorate, but become part of it and restructure the organisation of the site”. (Serra, p.1125) He is very connected with not only the material but the process of creation. The fact that he the site and the sculpture have to be part of each other changes how some people may have viewed sculptures. This links with Steinberg’s words, linking the two in terms of viewing art: stepping away from tradition and into more modern ideas.

bibliography:

Harrison, C., Wood, P., Steinberg, L. and Serra, R. (2002). Art in theory. 2nd ed. Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, pp.948- 953, 1124-1127.