Modernism Is Over But Today’s Design Art Cannot Be Considered Postmodern

The Concept of Postmodern Art and its Relation to Modernism

Discuss about the Modernism is over but today’s design art cannot be considered postmodern. Discuss this statement with a focus on not more than three artworks or design artefacts since 2000.

The concept of development of art through the ages takes a differential attitude towards the different aspects of the representation or the impressionism present in the art work of the previous eras. The term postmodern in the form of an art is attributed when the art is self-referential or the art has no previous influences. There cannot exist an art form which is a complete whole in itself which means that the art form has to take idea or the motivation or the idea from something that moves the artist. Since the art itself cannot exist as whole and has a meaning a context which either the artist or the appraiser ascribes to it, it cannot be considered postmodern.

Image: THE BLINDFOLDED MAN (Marlene Dumas)

(Source: Artspace.com)

The modern art in the present context is often the resultant of the different art forms of the different painters like Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh among others. One of the major factors showing the development of the different forms of art and their influence is the fact their choice of subject and their representations can be traced back to the earlier forms of art.  The various art forms in the modern era is subject to the influence from the earlier forms no matter how subtle they may appear. It is in general true for an artist to be inspired from earlier artworks as that is what attracts them to take up the art form and present itself to the different users.  The paintings of Marlene Dumas often depict distorted image of the faces of people. She is said to have taken the subjects of her paintings from the different images published in the newspapers. The different images that present themselves in the art collection of Marlene have an uncanny resemblance to the art of Picasso. Be it the close representation or the distortion of the facial features of the different subjects. The paintings on their own may not stand out bur in the depth the resemblance is quite visible.

Image 2: Krakkenhaus (Maria Lassig)

(Source: Artspace.com)

The postmodern paintings borrow heavily from all the previous ages and the art from of the ethnicity of the artist. The influence of the different painters that the painters look up to were quite evident in their paintings. One of the major development of art in the modern era was the justification of the subject to suit the artists thought of the subjects shift to imagery presentation through art. The art is therefore a simulation of a new thought process of the previous representations of art. The postmodern era of art is tough to achieve because the thought process behind a self-sufficient art or an art complete in its whole of its thought process. The art having a strong resemblance and borrowing from the previous era is the KRANKENHAUS (HOSPITAL) by Maria Lassig which shows a strong resemblance to the portrayal of the subjects like Van Gogh’s paintings used to. The majority of the art form represents the depiction of the different modern art forms which have a resemblance to the use of the paint to show the expression of the characters. The HINTERLAND by Glen Brown is another work of art which shows a strong resemblance to the works of the eccentric painter Salvador Dali in the representation of the colours and subject representation. The bright colors and the merging of the different subjects into one is one of the major ways that the work shows of  Dali’s impressions.

Artistic Influences and Borrowings from Previous Eras

Image 3: Hinterland (Glen Brown)

(Source: Artspace.com)

Presently the post in postmodern can be taken in a worldly ordered sense. Anything that comes subsequent to something different is "post" that something unique.  This isn't exactly the manner by which postmodern is utilized. It's gathered, rather, to mean or suggest workmanship that supersedes, replaces, succeeds the cutting edge regarding expressive advancement, the way that the florid succeeded idiosyncrasy and the ornate succeeded the rococo. Advancement, originality have gotten themselves taken as the sign of Modernism, novelty as something wanted and sought after. The idea of the postmodern has grown and spread in that same unwinding atmosphere of taste and feeling in which pop workmanship and its successors flourish. It speaks to unrealistic reasoning generally; the individuals who discuss the postmodern are excessively prepared, making it impossible to welcome it. Indeed, if the cutting edge, Modernism, is finished and ends, at that point there'll be surcease. Craftsmanship is as yet being made that difficulties the aching for unwinding and help and makes levels of popularity on taste. Postmodernism can't be portrayed as a rational development and needs complete qualities. It can be better comprehended rather as an arrangement of styles and states of mind that were associated in their response against innovation.

Figure 4: Dispersion (Julie Meheretu)

(Source: Artspace.com)

The Dispersion is a painting by Julie Meheretu which can be said to be chaotic at best. The painter is known to depict the life of the city and the various aspects related to the life of the city and the chaos and the sense of life that co-exist in today’s society among the common people in the society. One of the major attraction of the painting are the avid colors and the sheer dispersion of the colors as the chaotic mind of the painter portrays in the society in. though the painting is depicted as one of the major paintings which greatly affect the social constructs of the human behavior across the different aspects relating to the overall introduction of the chaos of the human society. This painting too shows a great influence from the works of one of the most notable painters Jackson Pollock. The work greatly reminds of one of the most famous of Pollock’s work of Lavender mist except the use of the bright colours in the representations. The different representations of the different paintings helps in the understanding of the chaos and the development and the degradation of the overall society. The postmodern painting therefore in this context shows the degradation of the modern society but is very influenced by the work of the different previous painters.

Analysis of Specific Artworks since 2000

The postmodern art like all the eras displays the thoughts of the society and the thoughts have an expression of the contemporary beliefs prevalent in the society. The different situations presented in the society in the modern world is the resultant of the different factors affecting the overall scenarios that are prevalent in the society. The incorporation of the newer and the better methods of the ideological analysis will help in the overall development of the human society. Like the development of the thought and the morality of the humankind the painting is also the result of the previous art movements. In the different modern works the reminiscence of the different aspects relating to the surrealist movement of the age of Modernism where the likes of Salvador Dali used the bright colour and morbid contrast to portray the abstract emotions and the ideals. The shift of the subject form the representation of the subject to the expression of the morbidity and the helplessness of the human soul is well represented in the different postmodern paintings.

The expression of the modern approach of the paintings in the modern society is therefore the expression of the abstract not as directly as in the paintings of Dali who used to be influences by the Freud’s psychoanalysis in his works but nevertheless it is the representation of the thoughts and thought process. The postmodernism has accepted chaos and the darkness as the subject of their paintings. The different situational aspects of the influence of the painters are depicted in their representations and the core meaning behind their work of art. The different representation and the impression in the works of art in the 21^st century most shows the ethnic and the social influence on the works of the artist. The modern era of painting is the representation of the human mind of the modern times where the different social and moral aspects have a major role to play in the overall depiction of the human mind. The different sociological aspects and the interpolation of the artists by the sociological factors also has role to play in the development of the postmodern painting.

Therefore, it can be seen that the modern art in the present context is the representation of the self in the modern society. The paintings in this context have a very subjective approach of the development of the human mind but the diversity in the thoughts, thought processes and the individual experiences greatly influences the subjectivity in the modern art. The subjectivity of the expression is the result of the different areas of art and expression which undergoes the different expression in the different areas of the postmodern are. Moreover the postmodern art has become an assimilation of the different types of art that have coexisted in the past.

Therefore in the modern context it is seen that the different art forms are greatly subjective but the postmodern art cannot be considered postmodern as though subjective is greatly influenced from the different art forms and the movements in the art history that have preceded it. In this context, it can be hence said, Modernism is over but today’s design/ art cannot be considered postmodern.

Reference

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Loh, Vanessa. "The Depth and Breadth of Modernism." American Book Review 36, no. 6 (2015): 20-20.

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Gaggi, Silvio. Modern/postmodern: A study in twentieth-century arts and ideas. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

Meecham, Pam, and Julie Sheldon. Modern art: A critical introduction. Routledge, 2013.

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Post-Modern Perspective On Curriculum - Myassignmenthelp.com

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