Mainstream Minimalism

I keep seeing minimalist styles over and over, not just in interior design and architectural forms, but also in color palettes, technological devices, branding and graphic design, fashion, etc. I think that minimalism as an aesthetic trend has become mainstream enough that whoever reads this has a sense of what I am talking about, and I am sure thousands and thousands of articles have already been written about this. My intention here is to bring together in one place pieces of minimalism from all different areas of art and design, and also to speculate why it has become so popular today.

My understanding is that the early beginnings of minimalism were situated in modern art, starting in around the 1960s and 1970s after World War II. Minimalism represents a shift in style which art historians analyze as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. Minimalism takes abstraction to a level which explicitly suggests no meaning, often in a more controlled manner, whereas Abstract Expressionism is abstract in the sense that it represents something more spontaneously and at times, more emotionally. In short, minimalism is about reducing the work to the bare minimum of formal elements without any deeper feeling or mood.

For reference, here is a comparison between works of Abstract Expressionism compared to Minimalism.

Abstract Expressionist art pieces:

Full Fathom Five, 1947. Jackson Pollock.

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Agony, 1947. Arshile Gorky.

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Woman, I, 1950-52. William de Kooning.

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Minimalist art pieces:

Tree Bones, 1974. Carl Andre.

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Die Fahne Hock!, 1959. Frank Stella.

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Ledger, 1982. Robert Ryman.
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Let us also take a look at the minimalist aesthetic in other areas of art and design.

Photography:

Photographer: Luigi Benedetti

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Photographer: Jeremy Brooks
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Tyrrenian Sea, 1990. Hiroshi Sugimoto.

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Branding and graphic design:

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Fashion:

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PUMA shoes. Image Source

 

American Apparel hoodies. Image Source

Minimalist interiors & architecture:

Modern Japanese architecture. Tepe House. Apollo Architects and Associates. Image Source

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The art history class that I took as a requirement for my major focused on the U.S; we did not really cover art movements on an international level, although there are separate classes for that. Independent of my studies, however, I wonder to what extent modern Western design has been influenced by styles overseas. More specifically, I can draw aesthetic parallels between the minimalist styles that have gained popularity in the U.S. with traditional Japanese architecture, as well as conceptual parallels to Buddhist philosophy. 

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(See this website for more examination of authentic traditional Japanese architecture.) 

The entrance to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony room. Image Source

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I am not Japanese, and I am not a Buddhist, but I am familiar with the aesthetics of traditional Japanese architecture (like in the above images). Also, from my research on Buddhism and having a friend who is Buddhist, I understand that one part of Buddhist teachings emphasizes non-attachment—not necessarily in the material or relationship sense, but also in the context of not being attached to underlying motivations such as the idea of doing good or refraining from sin, though original sin does not really exist in Buddhism. As an idea, non-attachment is conceptually similar to the Minimalist art tradition of avoiding deliberate ascriptions of meaning. The way that meaning operates in Buddhism is not absent or meaningless, but its approach is starkly different from other religions by nature of having no requirement of faith or savior. Buddhism also brings attention to Karma which refers to cause and effect; it is not fate or predestination, but instead the action and reaction of Karma which dictates the course of one’s life. In applying these ideas to my analysis of minimalist art, I think that the act of interpretation by the viewer is theoretically comparable to the way people make sense of faith-based religions.

(From what I have stated about Buddhism, someone please correct me if I am wrong. Also there is much more to Buddhism than I am referring to here, but I only focus on this point for the sake of argument.)

Also, I am not saying that Americans are imitating the Japanese, not at all. What I am comparing are the formal elements in aesthetic style-- the appearance of simplicity, the use of limited color palettes, and the emphasis on clean, geometric shapes and lines-- and possibly also in ambiance, in relation to the conceptual origins of Minimalism in the context of art history. I wonder if, like the Minimalist artists of the post-World War II era, all the minimalist styles we see today are a kind of reaction to something that came before. 

But what exactly could this be a reaction to? Does it have anything to do with philosophy and our approach to life or religion? Is it a reaction to our world of image-saturated media? Have we used up all our attention to shapes and color? Is there too much mental clutter in our minds? Or maybe we are simply being influenced by technology.

Take these devices, for example:

A designer table lamp by Munkii. Image Source

Technological advances enable the production of increasingly thinner, flatter electronic devices... How thin can you go?

Apple Inc. is notorious for their sleek, minimalist designs, from the hardware down to the user interface.

iPhone. Image Source

iPad. Image Source

Macbook Air. Image Source

Flat screen TV sets.

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This device below, the ZERO wrist watch designed by Robert Dabi, has "No Numbers Or Hands, But It Tells Time."

See the video

Here's another one:

 

Wacom Intuos 4 graphic tablet. Image Source

Many science fiction films also incorporate the minimalist aesthetic thereby making it look visually appealing and associating it with the future. One example I can think of off the top of my head is one of the last scenes in Repo Men (2010), where all the interior design is white and sleek. The camera's focus was on Remy (Jude Law) and Beth (Alice Braga) getting hot and messy, and there was an element of dream or surrealism in the context of the plot, but still-- the interior design was quite futuristic. 

Another example is the incorporation of the Marin County Civic Center in the science fiction films Gattaca and THX 1138.

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Photo Credits

I think that with further research this could be a pretty interesting argument: Technology represents progress and the future, and many designers of technological devices have taken up the minimalist aesthetic. As a culture we embrace technology, and the minimalist designs complete the package. (It also photographs well.) Therefore, we have come to value minimalism as high-tech, modern, futuristic, and therefore, cool. In this way, the minimalist style has come to be trendy and mainstream.