In the last chapter we determined…The emotional and psychological effects of modern warfare with modern technology lead to:

Escape through complete Abstraction A need for the spiritual through abstraction

With Modernism dead, so is the artist and his subjective reality. As war shows us, Western man is brutal, evil, rather than creative.

With Modernism dead, the US seeks to consume (like the Pop Artists note).

That leads us into this week’s set of Guiding Questions.

Guiding Question(s)

Who are we? How have we been traditionally defined? With what methods can we question tradition?

Definitions of ArtRace/EthnicityGenderSocial Problems

After generations of taking for granted what we know, the Postmodernists are going to question EVERYTHING.

Postmodernism Defined

PM will delve into the conceptual, art that is based on IDEA rather than an outcome

Much of PM work will be unintelligible without a knowledge of the artist’s explored idea

PM will assert that identity (gender, race, self, nation) is constructed

Our truths are informed by biases and biases (rooted in language) should be deconstructed

After the hope of Modernism that says the Artist is God and is creative, PM says that nothing is original

After the promises of modernism are dashed, PM will resign that the banal is all we can hope for or trust

Emphasis on bodily fluidsEmphasis on the ugly

Guiding Historical Events1945 Formation of the United

NationsSignals the globalization of world

economies, but also presents a united front against WORLD problems no longer seen only in nationalistic terms

1966 Formation of National Organization of Women

Signals a shift in women’s rightsInvention of Reality TV in the 80’s

A reminder that we are voyeuers and that we are disconnected

DECONSTRUCTION—the primary tool of postmodernists

Developed by Jacques Derrida Language can mask meaning instead of

making it clear Language depends on cultural contexts SO…

Deconstruction seeks to “take apart” assumed traditionsMakes the hero the anti-hero and the

antagonist the hero In literature, we see Kazantzakis’ The Last

Temptation of Christ and Lagerkvist’s Barabbas

Gender is a ConstructMale, Female= Sexes (anatomy), Man, Woman= Genders (roles)

Cindy Sherman, from the Untitled Film series, 1978

IDEA--Film culture determines gender roles

IDEA--Gender is a disguise we wear, like a set of clothes

Race/Ethnicity is a Construct Race=system of classification of humans into groupsEthnicity=cultural aspects (economic, language, social status

Betye Saar’s Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972

Reclaims iconography that traditionally stereotypes black women, i.e. the Mammy

Here the “slave” takes control of her own life and takes up arms against inequality

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the First, 1982

Comments on race and ethnicity—the exploitation of black heroes (Martin Luther, Malcolm X, here Charlie Parker, who dies at the age of 34)

Artist identifies with black artists who fall from grace Basquiat overdoses at 27

Transitions between street art and the fine arts Says that mistakes ARE art

Art is a constructArt no longer belongs to the Elite

Art no longer must even be seen by an Audience

Art is a Construct Art no longer belongs to the Gallery World

Street Art by Banksy

Anonymous artist working under a tag nameAnonymity

functional and anti-establishment

Graffiti as Street Art Prank as Art

Performance

Christo and Jean-Claude

Defy the idea that “art” can be a commodity

Environmental ArtEphemeral (not meant to last)

Communal (art belongs to everyone)

Based on the concept that wrapping objects brings them to our consciousness again

To CONCEAL is to reveal

To REVEAL is to conceal

Art is a Construct Art no longer must be seen by an audience

Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, in the Great Salt Lake of Utah

In remote, inaccessible location Environmental Art as Ephemeral (changes as

nature, not the artist, determines)

The Self is a ConstructA series of constructs we simulate (act out), usually unconsciously

Gender Sexual Orientation Social Class Ethnicity Nationality Religious Belief

Self as Bias A set of assumptions

we make about ourselves and others based on our own experiences

Neither good nor bad; it’s what we do with them.

Leads to “Political correctness” debacle

Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ If we really want to know

ourselves, we have to confront our biases through the banal.

To know Christ is to confront his humanity, and ours. Urine is considered dirty by

Western society, BUT In fact, it is quite sterile out

of the body, and Urination is required to

live. Which means Christ had to urinate.

What initially seems profane is in fact the artist’s efforts to SHOCK us into questioning our biases

In subsequent presentations, you will learn more about:

The role of the National Endowment for the Arts in contemporary commissions

Feminist Art

Conceptual Art with components of Performance Art