Art Encyclopedia - Serial
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Serial
A serial is a succession or a sequence. It is a sequence
that is connected. The serial consists of units that are arranged more or less regularly, that is, the
series has a recognised and progressive order. The units of the series can vary, for example, in size
and colour.
Serial art is term that from the 1960s, especially in the USA, has been applied to two types of
avant-garde art. First, it has been used to describe a kind of Minimal art in which simple, uniform,
interchangeable elements are assembled in a regular, easily apprehended arrangement. Carl Andre is a
noted exponent of this kind of work. Secondly, more broadly, the term has been applied to works of art
that are conceived in series or as part of a larger group; often the individual work is regarded as
incomplete in itself, needing to be seen within the context of the whole.