Recent Rhetorics of Purity in the Visual Arts. Infection,Dissemination, Genealogy

The rhetoric of purity has been foundational in the visual arts of this century, particularly in the advent of abstract art. Is it still a potent discourse? There can be no question that contemporary artists address this issue. As examples, I analyze the relationships between Kazimir Malevich's art, especially his notion of the “supplemental element,” and new work by Taras Polataiko, who is “infected” by the earlier artist. I extend this analysis of medical discourses of infection, purity, and impurity to the group General Idea's recent manipulations of the images and ideas of the quintessential Modernists Piet Mondrian and Ad Reinhardt. My readings suggest that purity as a concept in the visual arts remains powerful — both in the genealogy of artists and in individual works — but in a mutated form.