Postmodernism in Art

“The Visual Media”

Introduction

“Of the artistic currents of the eighties, the most historically characteristic was undoubtedly postmodernism. Coming after Pop art, it went much further in its analysis of the language of art.”
Art in Australia (Allen, 1997)

Pop art emerged in the late 1950s and was mainly focused on commercial imagery and “popular mass culture”¹. Pop artists used mechanical means of producing their work by drawing techniques and styles from mass media such as advertising and comic books.

The invention of photography in the late 19th century, according to some art historians, destroyed the authority of paintings to reproduce reality. This advancement in technology meant that hand-crafted original art was replaced by mass production photography. Realism, they believed, was coming to an end. The mass media was now seen as an image bank full of repressive stereotypes.

Advancement in Art

“Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is the most influential work of art of the last 100 years.”
Newsweek Magazine (July 2007)

In 1907, Pablo Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon - a work of Cubism in which the use of geometric shapes and planes represented humans. It was said to be dehumanising as it portrayed humans in a challenging way.

In the early twentieth century, Cubism led the way to a new style of art that attempted to represent reality. Cubism advanced to abstract art styles such as Constructivism and Minimalism, which eventually led to Conceptualism. Conceptual Art, was a free-for-all kind of art that required a new kind of attention and ‘mental participation’ from the viewer. It stimulated new expressions of thought and broke several conventions of previous art movements. Ultimately, Conceptual Art led to Postmodernism.

“Postmodernists see representation and reality as overlapping, because conventions of representation or language are learned and internalized so that we experience them as real.”
Concepts of Modern Art (Stangos, 1994)

In the 1980s, Postmodernism began to arise in the visual arts. In a similar style to architecture, Postmodern art brought together pastiche and appropriation from the works of other artists. This mixing and mis-matching, in a similar style to what Charles Jencks argued in architecture, was to open art to a wider audience and to re-think the relationship between artists and their works. Rather than viewing artists as superior figures outside society, they are seen inside as members of society. Postmodern art exists to "represent, or refer to, the world but in a way that questions the activity of representation and draws attention to the codes and discourses through which they do so".⁴

Elements of Postmodern Art

A Postmodern artist rejects the concept of originality. Creativity is not defined by coming up with a 'new' idea, but rather the synthesis of old ideas. The acceptance of borrowing from earlier works as a method in artistic creation sets these artists apart from the modern emphasis on originality. This juxtaposition not only emphasises the historical influence but also refuses to embrace any form of tradition through blending it with other styles.

In literature, Postmodern authors attract the reader's attention to the constructed nature of the text. In art, Postmodern artists bring to attention the nature of the medium itself. Rather than trying to tell a story or a message, artists make viewers aware of the paint on the canvas. Features³ of this 'self-aware' Postmodern art include:

• Abandoning shaded modelling and perspective
• Emphasising brush strokes
• Using geometrical forms
• Using harsh colours rather than subtle tonal changes

An Example of Postmodern Art

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)

“Pope of Pop Art”

In Western thought, the idea of an original creation has always been favoured over the idea of an imitation. This is particularly evident in art, where an original painting is more valuable than a reproduction. Mass-mediated forms of communication have revolved around Baudrillard's idea of simulacrum - imitations and copies exist with no true original.

Andy Warhol's mass produced images of Campbell's Cans of Soup (left) and Marilyn Monroe emphasises this nature of imitation against what is 'real'. His work can be seen as the visual counterpart of the literary use of "cultural icons" and items of mass production, where it was once seen as "high culture" is now no different from inferior "low culture". We now see his work on screen and on paintings, originals and copies and in handmade and reproduced forms. Warhol reversed the traditional values associated with painting - replacing "uniqueness with seriality, and originality with reproductivility".²

¹ Lawrence Alloway, The Arts and the Mass Media, February 1958
² Beth Elaine Wilson, Encyclopedia of Postmodernism, 2001.
³ Glenn Ward, Teach Yourself Postmodernism, 2003.
⁴ Ibid.