The Vestige of Resistance

Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) coined the term "action painters" to describe postwar American abstract painters. Since then his concept of "action" has been considered a supplementary term that reinforces autonomy in art. Reading against the grain, Kim proposes to situate Rosenbergs practice in a domain where art lies beyond the rules of aesthetics. Believing in process, vestiges, and possibilities, Rosenberg perceived art to be a substantial component of culture. The meaning of an artwork is not set by aesthetic principles, but is contingent on its context. Providing no vision of completing a priori principles, this contingency is associated with a sense of crisis that generates a radical force for critical art practices. Rosenbergs "action" epitomizes his central idea that the artist continues to transform him-or herself. This ceaseless discovery by the artist, for Rosenberg, is the content of the artwork. It is an eloquent statement that speaks to individual subjectivity after a collective revolution had failed. His criticism was a constant transaction, which kept modifying itself through his encounters with artists.