Exploration of the Method of Deconstruction and Reassembly as a Tool of Transformation

The study examines the works of contemporary artists created through the deconstruction and subsequent reassembly of the original object's form. The history of modern art began with a revision of traditional approaches used by artists to realize their ideas. By shedding obsolete forms of artistic language, art practitioners and theorists expanded the boundaries of artistic methods, proving that tradition-established notions of the act of creation were not the only way to express an author's intent. Starting with Impressionism, followed by Cubism, Futurism, Abstractionism, Surrealism, and subsequent movements, artists became increasingly less interested in reflecting objective reality as the purpose of art. Moreover, they soon discovered within themselves a desire to transform this reality—to dismantle it, strip away its layer of objectivity, and uncover new dimensions behind it. Each new method of perception and depiction replaced the previous one when it could no longer respond to contemporaneity, which ultimately came to be defined by the destruction of the obsolete. Thus, the constant deconstruction of art’s own foundations and components became an integral part of its pursuit of relevance. The term "deconstruction," as used in the context above and throughout the study, refers to the concept formulated by Jacques Derrida. It reflects the idea that destruction is not a complete and irreversible annihilation but rather "a way of opening space for new forms of art." Evidence of this lies in the fact that pivotal moments in art history—such as Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square in painting, Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain in sculpture, and John Cage’s 4’33” in music—did not bring an end to form but, on the contrary, expanded its possibilities. The method that is the subject of this study is proposed as a consequence of the aforementioned practices and concepts. Thus, the deliberate destruction of an object’s integrity by the artist, or the refusal to restore it, becomes the starting point for further transformations of form and the discovery of meanings that could not previously be found in the object. The book’s structure is based on a formal division into the most common and frequently encountered categories of objects that artists use as material. The study aims to answer the questions: "What is being deconstructed?" and "Why is it being deconstructed?" The visual portion of the study, which clearly demonstrates the range of objects as well as the diversity of techniques employed by the artists, provides an answer to the first question. The answer to the second is found in the accompanying texts within the study. These include a brief analysis of the author’s key working principles, as well as the conceptual underpinnings of each work. The texts also contain tag-words that serve as subtopics for each section, offering a thesis-like definition of the idea embodied by the artists.