Postmodern Art Research

1970’s and beyond

Modern Art 1870’s-1970’s(Before Postmodern Art)

Roughly Impressionism to Pop-Art:

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/17/40/14/174014d19e5d4266826b24766ff998c2.jpg

Influenced by:

WWI, WWII, The Great Depression, The Influenza Pandemic, The Wall Street Crash, and The Great Depression.

Beliefs:

Life if good, science and technology are good, Christian West was superior, inequality of gender.

Artists still believed in creating authentic, finished works of art with important content!

The Emergence into Postmodernism 1960’s...

Disillusionment sets in:

The vietnam war, testing of atomic bombs, Cuban Missile Crisis, life isn’t perfect!

New art begins to emerge:

Conceptual Art

Performance Art

Land Art

Installation Art

Feminist Art

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One and Three Chairs, 1965

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In One and Three Chairs, Joseph Kosuth represents one chair three ways: as a manufactured chair, as a photograph, and as a copy of a dictionary entry for the word “chair.” The installation is thus composed of an object, an image, and words.

Kosuth didn’t make the chair, take the photograph, or write the definition; he selected and assembled them together. But is this art? And which representation of the chair is most “accurate”? These open-ended questions are exactly what Kosuth wanted us to think about when he said that “art is making meaning.” By assembling these three alternative representations, Kosuth turns a simple wooden chair into an object of debate and a platform for exploring new meanings.

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Postmodern Art similar to contemporary art, but postmodern refers to 50 years from the 1970’s and contemporary refers to the 50 years before the current time

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• Rejected aesthetics
• Rejected that "art" was something "special" which should be "elevated from" popular taste
• Explored artistic experimentation with new media and new art forms due to technological developments
• Definition of art was stretched “anything goes”
• Rejected “big ideas” i.e. all progress is good
• Rejected modernist art which was considered elitist
• ALL art is now equally valid and can be made from anything
• Painting was seen as “worn out”
• Creativity IN craftsmanship OUT
• Focus on popular/low culture i.e. mass production in Pop Art
• Mixing of genres and styles
• The spectator is equally important, sometimes being actual participants

3 Key Concepts

• Instant Meaning-one does not need to be an expert to understand art, subject matter is easy to recognise.

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• Art Can be Made From Anything-junk art, assemblage, art is accessible to everyone

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3. The Idea Matters More than the Art Itself-concept more important that the final product

Art Movements/Artists to Research

Pop Art: Andy warhol

Word Art (text based painting)

Conceptual Art

Performance Art

Installation Art

Fluxus

Video Art

Minimalism

Photorealism: Duane Hanson

Land Art: Christo, Smithson

Photography: Cindy Sherman

Arte Povera

Feminist Art: Judy Chicago

Graffiti Art

Postmodern Sculpture: Donald Judd

Neo-Expressionism

Deconstructivism

Young British Artists: Demien Hirst

Neo-Pop Art

Body Art

Post-modernist Painting: Francis Bacon

Cynical Realism

Projection Mapping

Computer Art

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http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/postmodernism.htm

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http://www.theartstory.org/definition-postmodernism.htm

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Evaluation Criteria

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1.Movement name, definition and timeframe

2.Visual, Conceptual and Intellectual Indicators

3.Key artists in movement-Choose 3: include key artworks with images for each, titled

4.Discuss the connection to postmodern principles of art http://prezi.com/xd6x-fxqeg1j/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share:

• appropriation
• juxtaposition
• recontextualization
• layering
• interaction of text and image
• hybridity
• gazing
• representin’

5.Influences on other art movements and/or connections to other movements i.e. what came before and after your movement.

6. Any additional information (optional)

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