Abstract

Expanded painting or the expanded field of painting has been an under-developed area of art historical scholarship in twentieth century art and has only recently become a topic of discussion. The current dialogue on expanded painting enables the work of certain artists, in this case Helio Oiticica and Jessica Stockholder to be re-examined from within this framework. Discussed in reference to painting and in relation to their own artistic development, these two artists’ work can be situated in the expanded field of painting. Both artists have created abstract work that intentionally engages with abstraction and expands the possibilities of painting. Stockholder’s environments explore colour and composition through the use of objects, transforming the gallery space into a three-dimensional canvas, thereby merging architectural and painterly space through materiality. Oiticica extended the parameters of painting itself by actively expanding the notion of what painting could be in his own work, through the development of the Bolides and Parangolés series.