Projecting Pentagonism
Intensity and Repetition neuroarthistory and the Art of Gerard Caris
Negative Space, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
06-04-2019 - 11-08-2019
More information
Chapter from the book EUROPEAN ART A NEUROARTHISTORY by John Onians
Yale University Press 2016: Part 9 The twentieth Century Caris and Sculpture
Artist Talk // Gerard Caris & Beral Madra 18 September 2012 KUAD Gallery,
Istanbul.
KUAD Gallery Caris invitation
Interview at the occasion of the Bridges exhibition Leeuwarden, the
Netherlands 2008 (youtube)
Julien Bogousslavsky: Creativity patterns and the brain Abstraction, extraction and figuration in the art of Gerard Caris
Mark Cheetham: The
Crystal Interface
John Onians The
Role of Experiential Knowledge
Dear Mr. Caris,
We consider your work as a special and willful contribution to the
history of art of the 20th century. You represent a specific moment in
the dialogue between the dominance of America and Europe who was
seeking itself at that time. Your investigation of the pentagon links
conceptual, minimalistic and spiritual influences, that determined our
West-European circumstances.
The Van Abbemuseum has bought in the mid-eighties two of your works:
Reliefstructure 1D no. 3 and Reliefstructure 1G no. 1. This indicates
that we propagated the importance of your work not only in words but
also in action. We would be greatly pleased if these works could be
presented in the context of a retrospective of your life's work.
We wish you every success in realizing a presentation of your entire works.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Esche
Director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Eindhoven July 13 2011
Nature`s order is not a disorder, but it is
confusing and sometimes incalculable.
Incessantly people have tried to understand its
secrets - probably because of their rightful fear of what nature with
its sudden violence might do to them. So they went looking for
regularities and repetitive patterns. The old myths were succeeded by
scientific systems, for a single purpose only: to be in control of
nature.
Gerard Caris’ work, with its obsessive nature,
is an incantation. Caris thinks that he can make nature share its
secrets. But all the theories that circle his art are just side
affects. Whatever thoughts a work of art is based on before it is
actually made, I consider to be of secondary importance. Sometimes, in
Caris’ work too, the result is unexpected and mysteriously surprising.
It is then, and only then, that the work of art has a right to exist.
Rudi Fuchs
Preface catalogue Stedelijk
Museum Amsterdam cahier 23 2001
"...Not only did the forms of abstract
sciences, such as mathematics, influence art, they also had impact on
the natural sciences; thinking about the matter. Matter has, in the
meantime, long since disintegrated, dispersed into parts smaller than
atoms. Dynamic interaction between fields, powers, waves, quarks,
vectors, tensors and the like hold matter together or form it.
Gravitation is an answer to the question: What is it that holds the
world together at its core? ‘There are many answers that one could
give’ writes the renowned brain researcher Semir Zeki in his
contribution to the present volume, "but an answer that subsumes all
the more specific ones is the following: we see in order to be able to
acquire knowledge about the world. This constitutes the single most
important function of the visual brain. (…) There are three aspects to
this knowledge, all of which are worth considering in the context of
Caris’s work. The first relates to certain knowledge, the second to
uncertain knowledge and the third to the creation of knowledge."…
Gregor Jansen & Peter Weibel
Preface catalogue
ZKM Karlsruhe Gerard Caris Pentagonismus/ Pentagonism 2007
"The
Dutch artist Gerard Caris uses a geometric form language and
stereometric basic structures as the foundation on which to construct
the majority of his works. He covers a rectangular surface with figures
in a pattern, which gives the impression of being the random part of an
infinitely larger whole. In his reliefs, where he expands these figures
threedimensionally, he frequently allows the contours of the figures to
define the outer edges of the relief, giving these works the character
of wall decorations. His three-dimensional work appears to evolve in
space both organically and ornamentally, often giving the impression of
making the sensory perception of physical formulae possible.
(...)
Since 1968 the artist has concerned
himself chiefly with the pentagon in two
dimensional or relief works, and its three dimensional transformation,
the dodecahedron, in sculptures.
(...)
Because the pentagon and the
dodecahedron are not naturally occurring symmetries, they seem destined
to point beyond Nature to spiritual constructions. Caris’s intuitive
handling of the pentagon, his inclusion of irregularities when building
modular structures must be put into a topical frame of reference which
is very interesting. According to the findings of the latest scientific
theory deviations in what was considered as an absolute order are now
accepted as belonging to that order. Through the complex forms of his
figures Caris makes theoretical constructions optically accessible to
the viewer as modular systems. The mathematical systematic which forms
their basis, together with its variations, is not immediately apparent.
The tension which results from the not immediately comprehensible yet
tangibly present order of such forms is what makes his work so
extraordinary. (...)
Siegfried Salzmann
Preface catalogue Kunsthalle Bremen
Gerard Caris 1993
I have long maintained that artists
are neurobiologists who explore the functions and functioning of the
brain, though with techniques that are unique to them[i]. This may seem strange. We are accustomed to thinking
of neurobiologists as belonging in the world of science and of artists
in the world of art. Scientific studies, we are taught, are steeped in
rational argumentation, experimentation and deduction whereas art is
intuitive and emanates from a creative faculty that resists a detailed
explanation. Moreover scientific studies use detailed measurement,
something that we do not traditionally associate with art, at least not
superficially. As well, the technology associated with science,
especially in the recent fifty years, has become extremely
sophisticated and requires many resources, while art can make do with
simpler techniques. For these reasons alone the idea that artists are
also scientists is one that many, especially in the world of art,
resist. The work of Gerard Caris provides fertile ground for
considering the truth of my statement, that artists explore the
potentials and capacities of the brain and thus give us insights into
how it functions.
(...)
[i] Zeki, S. (1999). Inner Vision: an exploration of art and
the brain, Oxford University Press.
Semir Zeki
Catalogue ZKMKarlsruhe Gerard Caris Pentagonismus/
Pentagonism 2007
The Art of Gerard Caris and the Brain's
Search for Knowledge
(...)
When in 1984 crystallographers were
amazed to learn that a team of scientists had succeeded in producing
crystalline complexes based on regular pentagons in a rapidly cooled
manganese-aluminium alloy it was decided that these should be known as
"pseudo-" or "quasi-crystals"; as the discovery was the result of a
technically contrived process, it would have been scientifically
incorrect to use the term "crystal" as if it were referring to a
naturally occurring formation.
With artistic intuition Gerard Caris
had anticipated such structures from the beginning of the ’70’s.
It must not be thought that "artistic
intuition" implies any kind of unconditional subjectivism on Caris’
part. On the contrary, his Pentagonal Form Language lends itself to a
fuller interpretation only when one realizes that this artist from
Maastricht has succeeded in combining two (at first sight very
different) aspects of Dutch art of this century in a unique blend. The
most obvious parallels are with the group "de Stijl" on one hand and
with the work of the graphic artist M.C. Escher on the other.
Let us take "de Stijl" first. In the
sphere of modern art, the work of artists like Piet Mondrian and Theo
van Doesburg represents the desire for a new order in contrast to the
decadence of society at the turn of the century and the chaos of the
First World War. The basis of their work was intended to be fundamental
and rational and its relevance was meant to reach past the almost
sacred symbolism of pure painting and sculpture into the overall
pattern of everyday living and to find concrete expression as a
comprehensive synthesis, a harmonious and consciously arranged society.
One might, in more pointed terms, say
that the pentagon serves the same basic function for Gerard Caris as
did the rectangle for Mondrian. It is the foundation for everything,
both symbolic and practical. It is the rational pattern available for
pure and applied design. And because it is not a naturally occurring
module for complex structures it is an intellectual construct from the
outset. "Der Geist ist etwas unendlich Höheres als die Natur"
(Intellect is infinitely superior to Nature), runs a line from Hegel’s
Ästhetik, quoted by no means coincidentally in the periodical "De
Stijl".
In comparison with a rectangle a
pentagon is a considerably more complicated basic form, and the
contrast is even greater between a pentagonal dodecahedron and a cube
or a rectangular parallelepiped. Working with such forms requires
significantly greater geometric or stereometric effort. An overview of
the pentagon-based work of the Dutchman Caris, spanning more than the
last two decades, will reveal a desire for knowledge bordering on
obsession, a probing and puzzling (in no way dilettantish) which
differs widely from Mondrian’s well-nigh Messianic awareness of the
already discovered. The visible results as well as the approach place
any comparison with Caris closer to Escher than to Mondrian.
(…)
Uli Bohnen
Catalogue Kunsthalle Bremen Gerard
Caris 1993 :
Gerard
Caris and the nature of art
(…)
But there is more to it yet. When an
artist uses his formal vocabulary to create objects of everyday use and
so enters the domain of applied art we are witnessing aspects of an
age-surpassing modernity, showing consciousness of continuity.
More specifically: It may be true to
say that the radical attitudes of some of the most important
representatives of modern art in the present century became manifest
precisely in the fact that they attempted to expand their metaphysical
claims – partly borrowed from the distant past, partly inspired by the
scientific and social issues of their time – to include the reform of
daily life, and that as a consequence of these attempts, they wished to
end the separation between free and applied art. In contrast, however,
the popular view has doggedly persisted that art and day-to-day life
are uncorrelated (and non-relatable) domains – with the dominant
preference for free or applied art generally falling now this, now the
other way. In the face of this continuing anti-modernism Caris adheres
to modern principles.
(…)
Uli Bohnen
Catalogue Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
cahiers 8 1997 :
Inter Dimensiones – Mind and
Nature in the Art of Gerard Caris
…I appreciate and enjoy Caris’ artwork
not only because it is challenging, aesthetically pleasing, and
culturally important, but also because in a sense Caris is a loner and
marches to the beat of his own drum. In a world where embracing the
latest trend is almost essential for artistic (or scientific) survival
there is something refreshing and optimistic about an artist that
quietly and obsessively follows their own path no matter the
consequences….
Rob Harle (art critic for Leonardo
Book Reviews)
Leonardo Vol. 41, issue 3, 2008
contact : www.leonardo.info
"Gerard Caris or the artist of the missing space scheme of nature"
Hans Redeker, NRC Handelsblad 10/01/1975
(...)
In March 2007 mathematicians announced
they had successfully mapped E8, one of the most beautiful objects
within the mathematical universe.(…)
E8 is a close relative of one of the
oldest mathematical symbols: the dodecahedron. (…)
In Scotland archeologists have found
granite balls dating back to the Stone Age, which are cut in the exact
shape of dodecahedra.(…)
Four thousand years ago, before the
Venus of Milo or the Mona Lisa, someone must have found the E8, closely
associated with the dodecahedron, a construction of great beauty.
And not only in the Stone Age.
Simultaneously with the announcement
of the E8 in 2007 the exhibition “Mein Gen, das hat fünf Ecken” opened
in Karlsruhe, with art works of the Dutch artist Gerard Caris, whose
entire oeuvre is based on the five angled form.
(..)
Robbert Dijkgraaf (University professor mathematical physics at the
University of Amsterdam and as of May 2008 President of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences)
Translation fragment from :
Blikwisselingen Robbert Dijkgraaf
ISBN 978 90 351 3336 5
...the "POL YHEDRAL
NET STRUCTURE 3, 1973" , which at the time of its creation harbored a
scientific sensation, not recognized as such, however, until may years
afterwards. After all, although it has been a proven fact that the
dodecahedron does not lend itself to regular arrangements ("packing")
in a space without gaps or overlaps, Caris nearly succeeds in providing
conclusive empirical proof that this may yet be possible. A number of
dodecahedrons appear to be distributed in a regular pattern.". . .
"It is only under
closer scrutiny that we observe that the artist has made a choice from
among the positions for new dodecahedrons at hand (van der Blij) and
also discover discontinuities in the regular distribution of
dodecahedrons. Still we need to emphasize that the artist here found a
spatial structure which indeed contains local five-fold symmetries. The
partly transparent linear arrangement and parallel displacement of the
dodecahedrons in the network of the sculpture lend a high degree of
ordering to this work. The special optical appeal however lies in the
presence of at least one discontinuity in the network of dodecahedrons.
As Caris solved this problem of the optimally regular positioning of
dodecahedrons in space, important not only from an artistic point of
view, but also and especially from the viewpoint of scientific
investigation, he immediately achieved for himself the necessary open
space as an artist to create works of art liberated from all problems
of this kind."
Dietmar Guderian Peter
Volkwein Translated from German
Catalogue Museum für Konkrete Kunst
Ingolstadt 2000 : Gerard Caris Gestalten und Forschen mit dem Pentagon
Reflexionen
über das Fünfeck: Der Künstler Gerard Caris und die
Relativitätstheorie
"Doch bewegen sich schon lange
Philosophie und Mathematik in vier und n-dimensionalen
Räumen. Warum soll es aber dem Künstler verboten sein, wenigstens nach
einer Ausdrucksform über die dritte Dimension hinaus zu suchen", heißt
es in einer 1953 erschienenen Schrift des Architekten Carl August
Bembé, mit der sich der Künstler Gerard Caris intensiv beschäftigte.
Seit nahezu 40 Jahren gilt Caris zentrales künstlerisches Anliegen der
Form des Fünfecks. Indem er das Grundmodul zu übergeordneten Gebilden
zusammenfügt, gelangt er zu seinen komplexen, grafischen und
skulpturalen Strukturen.
Das
veränderte Weltbild
Philosophie und
Mathematik sind Vorreiter eines neuen Denkens, das seit dem 17.
Jahrhundert langsam in die Gesellschaft einsickerte. Doch immer noch
orientiert sich unser Denken am Newtonschen Weltbild als hätte es Gauß,
Einstein oder Heisenberg nie gegeben. Spätestens seit uns vor 100
Jahren die Relativitätstheorie mit der Aufgabe konfrontiert hat, Raum
und Zeit als zusammengehöriges vierdimensionales Kontinuum zu
begreifen, hätte unsere populäre Vorstellung von Dreidimensionalität
einer profunden Änderung bedurft.
Das
Fünfeck als Grundmodul
Untersagt ist die
ästhetische Suche nach n-dimensionalen Räumen nicht, doch wagen sich
nur wenige Künstler an und über diese Grenze. Gerard Caris ist einer
von diesen Grenzgängern: Mit unerschöpflicher Formenkombinatorik
verleiht der 1925 in Maastricht geborene Künstler den Fragen nach der
Struktur der Welt einen zeitgenössischen ästhetischen Ausdruck. Sein
Mittel ist das Fünfeck. Seit nahezu 40 Jahren gilt Gerard Caris
zentrales künstlerisches Interesse dieser einen Form. Indem er das
Grundmodul zu übergeordneten Gebilden zusammenfügt, gelangt er zu
seinen komplexen, grafischen und skulpturalen Strukturen, von ihm als
"pentagonale Komplexe" bezeichnet. Fünfeck-Konstruktionen findet man in
Caris' Oeuvre nicht nur in der Zeichnung, dem Relief ( http://www.arsetmathesis.nl/bomen/Lesbrief/plaatjescatalogus/Gifplaatjes/CARIS.gif
) oderder Skulptur, sondern auch in Architektur und Design.
Die
"Schatten vierdimensionaler Objekte"
"Ein
dreidimensionales Objekt wirft einen Schatten von nur zwei Dimensionen.
Daraus kann
man schließen, dass ein dreidimensionales Objekt seinerseits der
Schatten eines Objekts
sein muss, das vierdimensional ist." Mit dieser scharfsinnigen Analogie
versuchte bereits der
Künstler Marcel Duchamp etwas bislang Unvorstellbares, aber Denkbares,
der allgemeinen
Vorstellung näher zu bringen. Künstler wie Gerard Caris können uns
dieses Unvorstellbare
im handgreiflichen Objekt veranschaulichen, was für die Mathematik oder
die Philosophie eine weitaus schwerere Aufgabe darstellt.
Michael Scheibel Konzeptentwickler, Publizist und als Fachberater Kunst
Lehrer-Online
Rezension
Ein Künstlerleben für das
Dodekaeder
Gerard Caris hat das Potenzial des
eckenreichsten platonischen Körpers ausgelotet.
Christoph Pöppe über Pentagonismus /
Pentagonism
Spektrum des Wissenschaft – Januar
2009
Oleg Grabar 28 april 2009
dear gerard caris, your pentagon series is really stunning and deserves
a full study
by other artists aswell as by art historians.
(Oleg grabar became Aga Khan professor of Islamic art and architecture
in 1980 and stayed
at harvard until 1990, when he joined the institute of advanced study.
he has been a professor emeritus since 1998
“This is fascinating. Problems that
Mondrian left behind.”
Norman Bryson
Professor of Art History
University of California, San Diego USA
22 June 2009
Duurzaamheid Gerard Caris
- Geboren: 1925, Maastricht
- Woont en werkt in Maastricht
- University
of California, Berkeley, USA, 1964-1969 (zijn leraren waren o.a. David
Hockney en R.B. Kitaj)
- Masters
Degree in Art, 1969
- Schilder,
beeldhouwer
Na veel omzwervingen over de wereld en
studies in de Verenigde Staten keerde de ingenieur Gerard Caris in 1968
definitief terug naar zijn geboortestad Maastricht. Hier wijdt hij zich
volledig aan het autonome kunstenaarschap. Onder de kunstenaars die
zich door meetkundige vormen laten inspireren, neemt Caris een
bijzondere plaats in. Hij is de enige die de vijfhoek, in al zijn
planometrische en stereometrische vormen met al hun tussenvormen,
consequent toepast in een systeem van regelmaat zonder herhaling. Door
ontstane vlakken verschillend te arceren of in te kleuren bereikt Caris
in zijn tekeningen perspectieven die sterk aan Escher doen denken. Voor
zijn overwegend monochrome ruimtelijke objecten gebruikt hij de
dodecaëder, het regelmatige twaalfvlak en daaruit voortkomende
ruitenveelvlakken. Over zijn werkt zegt Caris: 'Juist omdat de vijfhoek
niet in de natuur voorkomt, vond ik het een uitdaging ermee aan de slag
te gaan.' Het uitgangspunt van Caris is een wezenlijke vernieuwing in
de kunst tot stand te brengen.
Sustainability Gerard Caris
- Born in Maastricht, 1925
- Lives and works in Maastricht
- Studied
at the University of California, Berkeley, 1964 – 1969 where his
teachers included David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj
- Obtained
a Masters Degree in Art, 1969
- Painter
and sculptor
Having traveled the world and studied
in the United States the former engineer Gerard Caris returned to
Maastricht, the city of his birth. He determined to pursue his artistic
calling fulltime. Caris has a special place amongst the artists
inspired by geometric shapes. He is the only one who was able to
consistently produce a pentagon, with its planometric and stereometric
forms and all their intermediate forms, without having to repeat the
process. By reducing the depth of various shades or colors in his
drawings Caris achieves perspectives that strongly remind one of
Escher. For the majority of his monochrome three-dimensional objects he
uses a dodecahedron with its 12 pentagonal faces and checkered
polyhedrons. Caris has said of his work "Because the pentagon does not
occur in nature I find it a challenge to work with it". Caris' starting
point is to bring a real change to art.
Heel bijzonder is de website van de
84-jarige beeldend kunstenaar Gerard Caris die daarop het begrip
"pentagonisme" ofwel vijfhoekigheid introduceert als een nieuw fenomeen
in de beeldende kunst. Daarover is op www.gerardcaris.com niet alleen een theoretische en
historische verhandeling te lezen, maar op die site worden ook werken
van hem getoond die op dit principe zijn gebaseerd. Fascinerend alleen
al om naar te kijken. Dat zeker.
Rob Hamilton 2009
Reliefstructure 1w-1 2009
140x85x50
p, eg, iron frame, paint
“I'm much impressed by the
invention and imagination you display within what might be regarded as
a confining geometric format.”
Keith Moxey
Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Art
History and Acting Chair, Barnard College, Department of Art History, Columbia
University, New York, NY
November 13 2009
“I have enjoyed learning about
your sculpture reflecting your work in the realm
of Pentagonism. It is very interesting conceptually and
beautifully crafted aesthetically.”
Andrew Connors
Curator of Art
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History
2000 Mountain Road, NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104
December 7, 2009
“dear Gerard
As you know, I think highly
of what I know of your work--and especially
esteem your formidable integrity.”
Dr David Anfam
Commissioning Editor, Fine Art
Phaidon Press Ltd
Regent's Wharf
All Saints Street
London N1 9PA
England, UK
March 19, 2010
“Thank
you so much for sharing information and images on what has been a
remarkably prolific career. Your works are visually stimulating and conceptually
sophisticated.”
Betsy Carpenter
Curator, Visual Arts / Permanent
Collection
Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
March 25, 2010
“Thank you for contacting me in
relationship to your aesthetic research,
which of course, I find very interesting.
Warhol’s fifteen-minute fame through public relations was never my cup
of
tea. I have always appreciated artists who invested a lifetime in their
investigations. So, I appreciate your long-time consistent efforts.”
Dietmar R. Winkler, Professor Emeritus
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
June 12, 2010
These are some beautiful geometric
sculptures.(Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 2001)
Design +other stuff
July 6, 2010
Gerard Caris's Pentagonism series –
a nice mix of Geometry and art.
Nice visual inspiration.
July 10, 2010
notcot.org
for your ideas + aesthetics + amusement
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