Minimalism grants the ability to delve into geometric abstraction, by allowing color and shape to be the focus of the work. With its roots in the 1960s US, minimalist art is an extreme form of abstract art. In a way, it proposes that a subject does not need to be rendered, represented or portrayed - the minimalist art created is simply art in and of itself. When art is presented as it is, it forces the viewer to honestly react to what is directly in front of them. It is an interesting art movement, coming off the back of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art where the subject is either pulled away from or laterally consumed by recognition. Art, presented solely as it is, was a daring reaction to any tug-of-war between the representation of a subject. Within Artsper's own selection of works, one can delve into the unambiguous world of Alessandra Viotti Gilabert, and Brent Hallard who has created new geometric abstractions, leaning on minimalism and using patterns to question the limits of the works themselves. Of Hallard, the writer Kate Moethes notes that the colors are bright and almost like optical illusions, some perfectly symmetrical but the borders shift as the eye pans the work, using color and the repetition of shapes to trick the viewer. Simple, but effective, like colorful minimalist patterns themselves.
