Post-Modern Art

Presented by:
Ashdeep Singh
Agnes Jaise

Origins of Postmodernism

Postmodernism began to emerge around the 1920s

with the Dada movement.
It was not until after the Second World War that
postmodernism was really recognized.
One of the reasons that postmodernism was thought
of as a different movement from that of modernism
was because of the different economic and
technological changes that took place.

Origins of Postmodernism,
cont.
Another

basic concept of postmodernism is

that every form of rebellion has already been
explored
Because of this, postmodernist artists usually
use ideas from many different periods and
combine them to form one image

Authors and their ideas of

postmodernism
Arnold

Jean

Toynbee

Baudrillard

Arnold Toynbee

Is thought to be the first person to use the term

postmodern
Used this term in his A Study of History, and said
that this idea of postmodern occurred from around
1850-1875
He later changed his original thought and said that
the modern came to and end during the First World
War, and that postmodernism really began to form
during the years between the first two world wars
(1918-1939)

Jean Baudrillard

Wrote that there are four processes of

obtaining value:
1.
2.
3.
4.

There is a functional value of an object

There is an exchange value of an object
There is a symbolic value of an object
There is a sign value of an object

Deconstruction
One

of the key ideas of postmodernism is to

conceive things as texts
Derrida
Argued

that deconstruction shows that texts can

have multiple meanings and these different
meanings can be cleared up through close
textual analysis
One possible consequence of deconstruction is
that texts may be defined too broadly

Technology and Art

Aspects of
Photography
Digital

Photography
Computers
Mass Media and Communication
What Technology Has Done

Photography

From painting light to

capturing light

Art of the few

George Eastman

George Eastman

Kodak
Mass Production
Brings Cameras into
everyday use

Everyones a Photographer?
Eastman

brought photography into

mainstream culture
No longer an art for the few
Popularization of photography as art
New technologies create new demands

Digital Photography

Snapshots of anything
Editing Photos
A new outlook on
Photography
Is what you see really
what you see?
Broadens the definition
of art

Photoshop Sunset

Computers

Digital Editing

Digital Spaces

Photoshop

New outlet of
imagination

Mass Media and

Communication
Information

and communication have

therefore become terms of comparison with
which to redefine and reinterpret the roles of
all disciplines.

Radio

Newspaper

Mass Media and Communication

cont.
Magazine
Post-Cards

(art as communication)

Internet
Commercialization

of Art
Loss of aura as art/anything as art
No longer art for arts sake

What Technology Has Done

the institutions of the art world continued to believe

in indeed to expect breakthroughs, and the
galleries, the collectors, the art magazines, the
museums and finally the corporations that had
become the major patrons of the age were also
awaiting prophets and revelations - Arthur Danto
Created a demand for new art

Movements and
Artists

Neo-Expressionism
Emerged

in late 1970s; prominent until mid

1980s
Developed in Europe reaction to
conceptualism and minimalism
Heavily promoted by the media and art
galleries

Characteristics

Recognizable objects

Rough, violent or
abstract interpretation

Vivid colors

Inspired by German
expressionism
Jedd Garet
Curtain of Protection (1980)

Prominent Neo-Expressionist
Artists

George Baselitz

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Julian Schnabel

Francesco Clemente

Keith Haring

Julian Schnabel

Imfluences include
Antoni Gaudi, Cy
Twombly
Plate paintings
Schnabel said he was,
"aiming at an emotional
state, a state that
people can literally walk
into and be engulfed."
Other mediums

Graffiti Art

Used to display artists tags,

as well as social and
political messages and
sometimes advertising
Spray paint, markers or
other materials
Application without
authorization to public
spaces
Public art?
Radical and political
purposes
High art

Graffiti Art

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Graffiti background
SAMO tag
The Radiant Child by
Rene Ricard
Andy Warhol
Art periods

1980-1982
1982-1985
1986-death

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Prayer (1984)

Keith Haring

Grafitti/pop artist
NYC subway chalk
drawings
The Radiant Baby
Andy Warhol
The Keith Haring
Foundation

Francesco Clemente

Combines both
surrealism and
expressionism
Career in the 1970s
Career in the 1980s
Collaborations with
Warhol and Basquiat

Post-Modern Conceptualism

Laurie Anderson
I Hate Television
A
Public Service
Announcement

Matthew Barney

Drawing Restraint 9
(trailer)
The film concerns the theme of self-imposed limitation and continues Matthew Barney's
interest in religious rite, this time focusing on Shinto.

Matthew Barney

Common Criticisms

Questions Raised by
Postmodernism
What

is art?

What

is the purpose of art?

How

has the purpose changed in the face of

Postmodernism?

What is Art?
How

do we decide what is art?

Philosophical in nature?
Representation of reality?
Consumer oriented?
Aesthetically pleasing?
What is the role of skill in art?

What makes art?

What makes this art and
not boxes?
Arthur Danto, an art critic, said,
Art is dead. Art [has] raised
the philosophical question of
art.

Andy Warhol
Brillo Boxes, 1964

Robert Gober
1986
Playpen

Commodities as art?

Is using someone elses work art?

Barbra Kruger (Untitled)

Consumerism
Art

is now created to be sold

Is this good or bad, or even true?

Danto:

The Market needed something to sell and artists

needed to make a reputation

The Importance of Skill

Imagination without skill gives
us contemporary art, Tom
Stoddard.

Rembrandt
The Sacrifice of Abraham
1635
Oil on Canvas

Lack of Skill?

Roberto Matta
Enerjeros
Charcoal and pastel
1985

Subjectivity of Art
Since

Art is entirely subjective can it ever

really be defined?
What makes a piece good art opposed to
bad art
Is Rembrandt a better artist than Matta? Who
is to say?
Will we ever know what art is?