Just as I love freedom and abstraction, I love structure. So the first thing which is important to define is terminology. What is meta- and what is meta-painting?
Origin is Greek meta ‘with, across, or after’.
Definition of meta- in English: (Oxford Dictionary, on line)
- Denoting a change of position or condition.
- Denoting position behind, after, or beyond.
- Denoting something of a higher or second-order kind.
Thus, if we apply the definition to the art - meta- would be, for example, art with art, painting across painting or sculpture after sculpture. This game of words made me think about Frank Stella because it was a pure art about art.
But this would be a rhetorical subject as on the canvas nothing except paint, in origin, (here I mean the origin of painting, drawing, sculpture) artist could depict one painting in another, or represent the model and real life around them. This period was during figurative art when was easy to identify painting of a painting.
The earliest images within images came out of catacombs and Christianity. Here author wanted to represent a symbol of the Divine Child and upcoming events. Later in iconography this symbol positioned in the circle that everyone sure about image into the image and not a double portrait.
Orans (catacombs of Rome), first half of IV c. [Online] Available from: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0#/media/File:VirgenNino.jpg [Accessed 06/12/18]
Our Lady of the Sign icon. Veliky Novgorod. First half of XII c. [Online] Available from: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0#/media/File:VirgenNino.jpg [Accessed 06/12/18]
In iconography exists one more element of meta-painting when a miraculous image of Jesus imprinted on a cloth. I think here the artistic mind dramatically changed towards infinite space beyond simple depiction.
Thaddeus an. and King Avgar with selected saints. Triptych doors; Egypt. Sinai; X century; location: Egypt. Sinai, monastery of sv. Catherine; 25.2 x 34.5 cm; material: wood, gold (leaf), natural pigments; Technique: gilding, encaustic [Online] Available from: http://www.ruicon.ru/arts-new/icons/1x1-dtl/monastir_sv_ekaterini/faddej_ap_i_tcar_avgar_s_izbrannymi_svyatymi_stvorki/ [Accessed 06/12/18]
Hans Memling. Holy Veronica. About 1470 [Online] Available from: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%92%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0 [Accessed 06/12/18]
Christ Visited by King Abhar’s Messengers. Alessandro Tiarini. Italy. 17th century. Canvas, oil [Online] Available from: http://admomsk.ru/web/en/sightseeing/museums/fine-arts-museum-european-art [Accessed 06/12/18]
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), “Pallas and Arachne” 1636 or 1637, oil on panel, Height: 26.6 cm; Width: 38.1 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts [Online] Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubens_Arachne.jpg [Accessed 06/12/18]
Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez, 1656, Oil on canvas, 318 cm × 276 cm [Online] Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas#/media/File:Las_Meninas,_by_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg [Accessed 06/12/18]
Rizi Juan Andrés, Saint Benedict destroying Idols, Before 1662. Oil on canvas, Height: 194 cm.; Width: 220 cm. [Online] Available from: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saint-benedict-destroying-idols/9df62082-273c-45fb-b107-e0f5025f086f [Accessed 06/12/18]
From late baroque beginning classicalism: G. P. Pannini compiles Roman ruins and sculptures. (1756) [Online] Available from: https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyklassicisme#/media/File:PanniniMusImagin.jpg [Accessed 06/12/18]
Pere Borrell del Caso, Escaping criticism. 1874 [Online] Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pere_Borrell_del_Caso#/media/File:Escaping_criticism-by_pere_borrel_del_caso.png [Accessed 06/12/18]
“Meta-painting. A Journey to the Idea of Art” the exhibition was on a display 11/15/2016 - 2/19/2017 gives an amazing overview of meta-painting.
Rene Magritte, The Key to the Fields 1936, oil, canvas, 60 x 80 cm [Online] Available from: https://www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/the-key-to-the-fields-1936 [Accessed 07/12/18]
After abstract and conceptual art the question is more about the intention of an artist than about painting. Subject matter became colour, or paint, or canvas itself. 📷 For instance, in the work Erased de Kooning Drawing Rauschenberg deleting the subject and recreate a pure art – art in the sake of art.
Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) [Online] Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-rauschenberg-robert.htm [Accessed 07/12/18]
Ray Parker born 1922 - 1990, Untitled, 1959, Oil on canvas, (178 x 180) [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/parker-untitled-t00441 [Accessed 06/12/18]
Frank Stella, [title not known] 1967, Tate, © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2018 [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-frank-stella [Accessed 06/12/18]
In 2009 was an event Banksy versus Bristol Museum. Quite some interesting meta-works where the subject goes beyond the work and again questioning the borders of art.
Rob Mulholland, Fern, stainless steel. [Online] Available from: http://robmulholland.org/sculpture-2/ [Accessed 07/12/18]
The 2015 year. Meta-Wikipedia... I think this is after and beyond the one work – an online encyclopaedia. This encyclopaedia about itself.
Print Wikipedia by Lulu.com & Michael Mandiberg [Online] Available from: https://youtu.be/KTJAqx6wCH0 [Accessed 07/12/18]
And Photography about photography...
Untitled (AfterSherrieLevine.com/2.jpg) Michael Mandiberg, 3250px x 4250px (at 850dpi), 2001 [Online] Available http://www.aftersherrielevine.com/images2.html [Accessed 07/12/18]
Liu Bolin, Gun Rack, 112 x 150 cm. Photographs, Epson Ultra Giclée on aludibond. Ed.6+2AP, 2013 [Online] Available http://www.artnet.com/artists/liu-bolin/gun-rack-a-HoVrzQYfy6ymNa8DAqENeg2 [Accessed 10/12/18]
October 2018 – work of art is turning to what it is in origin – a piece of paper. Art went beyond it.
“Banksy’s Ballon Girl Self-Destructs After Being Auctioned” [Online] Available from: https://theartgorgeous.com/banksys-ballon-girl-self-destructs-auctioned/ [Accessed 07/12/18]
Bibliography and references
1. Oxford Dictionaries [Online] Available from: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meta-[Accessed 06/12/18]
2. Museo del Prado [Online] Available from: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats-on/exhibition/meta-painting-a-journey-to-the-idea-of-art/1d0500f9-5f3c-4ad0-a345-5626e65fa702 [Accessed 06/12/18]
3. Bristol Museums [Online] Available from: https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/stories/banksy-bristol-museums/ [Accessed 06/12/18]