Post Modernity Morimura

POST MODERNITY

A contemporary art movement associated with post-industrial societies. It usually breaks the boundaries of art and questions the concept of creativity and the original.

It often draws from several art traditions, yet refers to contemporary culture. Postmodernism uses methods of irony and parody of quotation and appropriation. It is grounded in French cultural theories, as well as Marxism, feminism & psychoanalysis.” p. 92 Senior ArtWise

definitions

a widely used term for progressive art of the 1980’s and 1990’s which involves the challenging of traditions, such as categories of media and the concept of originally. Postmodern artists often utilise art from a previous time to imply new meanings and to question past values.

p. 92 Senior ArtWise

Anne Zahalka “The Cleaner” 1987 Jan Vermeer “Artist’s Studio” Yasumasu Morimura “Vermeer Study 2004

Lee Bull Tracey Moffatt Gordon Bennett Rosalie Gascoigne Bill Henson Yasumasa Morimura Rosemary Laing Post Modernity Cindy Sherman AESF MP & MP Rosado

One of Postmodernism’s key elements is the relationship between various levels of seeing, looking and appreciation.

This element is explored with past trends & art history in mind, and in the belief that in the rush to create something new many important and valuable pointers to human experience and thinking have been lost

After Modernity MP & MP Rosado

context Post Modernity ? similacrum text archaeology parody humour isms feminism post colonialism technology

isms

Postmodernism is closely allied with several contemporary academic disciplines, most notably those connected with sociology. Many of its assumptions are integral to feminist and post-colonial theory .

Some identify the burgeoning anti-establishment movements of the 1960s as the earliest trend out of cultural modernity toward postmodernism…….. it is fair to assume that postmodernism represents an accumulated disillusionment with the promises of the Enlightenment project and its progress of science, so central to modern thinking

The movement has had diverse political ramifications: its anti-ideological insights appear conducive to, and strongly associated with, the feminist movement , racial equality movements, gay rights movements , most forms of late 20th century anarchism , even the peace movement and various hybrids of these in the current anti-globalization movement . Unsurprisingly, none of these institutions entirely embraces all aspects of the postmodern movement, but reflect or, in true postmodern style, borrow from some of its core ideas. “ I was socialised into an essentially Anglo-Saxon Eurocentric society where attitudes to indigenous people still seemed entrenched at a Social-Darwinist level…….predominantly derogatory opinions about indigenous people are exchanged with unquestioning ease and assurance” Art Now –p.42 - 4Victoria Lynn, Strangers in Paradise,AGNSW, Sydney,1992,p.22 GORDON BENNETT – Self portrait 1990 feminism Cindy Sherman’s photographs from the 1980’s assume a feminine perspective in their attention to issues such as sex stereotyping and attempt to make us consider the manner in which women are portrayed in the media P17 Art Now

context

Meaning is determined by many factors the most significant of these being context

Meaning is not intrinsic to the work as where it exists and how it is mentally apprehended by the viewer constitutes the interpretation which is given.

Through the technologies of reproduction an image may change context in an infinite variety of forms.

context

The real object still exists, but even it is subject to contextural changes

physical object

textural object

represented object

simulacrum

The image replaces that which it purportedly represents.

There is no original.

There is no original sign, symbol or object of which there are so many copies – there is only a first

archaeology

To dig through the history of an artwork, finding fragments which contribute towards its present context, meaning etc.

text

Since, in postmodern thought, the "text" is a series of "markings" whose meaning is imputed by the reader, and not by the author, this play is the means by which the reader constructs or interprets the text, and the means by which the author gains a presence in the reader's mind. Play then involves invoking words in a manner which undermines their authority, by mocking their assumptions or style, or by layers of misdirection as to the intention of the author .

‘ text’ is everything which is and surrounds the work, it includes;

The art object

The artist

The culture

The origins of the artwork – it’s style

Appropriation of the image

Things that have been written about the work

The debate that surrounds it if it is controversial

All these things add to the textural meaning of the artwork through its textural context. A LITERARY ANALOGY The boldness of the print,the borders of the page, the quality of the paper, footnotes, are all instances of “apparently peripheral fragments” which contribute towards textural meaning. (Eagleton, 1989)

Artists viewpoints & influences changed

low verses

high art

Challenging authority Mass media Parallel fields – art & advertising Blurring of boundaries Culture of the immediate – on demand cynicism individuality

Parallel fields: art & advertising Kruger's work addresses the cultural representations of power, identity and sexuality, and challenges the spectacles of stereotypes and cliches. Since 1980, her work with pictures and words has developed into a highly recognizable, consistent visual language. In her iconic photo/text montages, the artist juxtaposes striking images with equally striking phrases like "Your body is a battleground," "We have received orders not to move," and "I shop therefore I am." (left: Unitiled (Not ugly enough) , 1997, photographic silkscreen on vinyl, 109 x 109 inches, Collection of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Barbara Kruger

blurring of boundaries

Sophie Calle

Laing’s work is all about dramatisation, using people, props and stunts to create mini performances in which the landscape symbolises something other than the ‘usual’. From these elements Laing crafts beautiful, hyper real images that seem impossible. But there is no digital manipulation here. Her approach is unique in its use of real-time events, tailor made installations and performers. She works in collaboration with the community of each area as well as professionals from a range of disciplines, from film stunt producers to carpet manufacturers, to create works of cinematic scale that combine panoramic vistas with the unexpected. Rosemarie Laing Tracey Moffatt Arguably Australia’s most successful contemporary artist, Tracey Moffatt can best be described as a director of photo narratives, expertly incorporating photography and filmmaking into her work. In her photographs and films, highly choreographed sound, lighting, colour and composition form the structure of a complex and multi-layered narrative.

Low verses high art

Re-evaluation of things that in the past we have taken for granted

Postmadern artists work in unconventional materials – cow dung – Chris Ofili “The Little Madonna” question set values?

Use unconventional subject matter – blur the boundaries between popular culture & high art – (Pop Art – cartoons)

Fiona Hall “Medicine Bundles for the non-born child” 1993

Who set the rules in the first place?.. Question not judge.

Parody, humour and cynicism

cynicism

As social commentators the performance duo “Gilbert & George” deal with provocative and yet crucial life matters, such as aids, racism, homosexuality, fascism, urban decay, religion, hopelessness, addictions, anger & sex.

Drunk with God 1983 Many artists deploy cynicism eg. post colonial artist Gordon Bennett Bennet’s interest in Amarican affairs and how this effects Australia began in the late 1990s with his Notes to Basquiat series which culminated in an exhibition relating to the September 11 terrorist attack on New York. Yet, the terror of colonialism and the trauma of being Australian that had previously preoccupied Bennett have not been forgotten. Rather, they have been displaced onto contemporary global events, as if Bennett is developing an art of reportage. “ Camauflage

Mass media

Mass media impacted on artist’s practice.

. The mass media, and other forms of mass cultural production, generate constant reappropriation and recontextualisation of familiar cultural symbols and images, fundamentally shifting our experience away from 'reality', to ' hyperreality '.

… ..Other thinkers assert that post-modernity is the natural reaction to mass broadcasting and a society conditioned to mass production and mass political decision making. The ability of knowledge to be endlessly copied defeats attempts to constrain interpretation, or to set "originality" by simple means such as the production of a work.

Challenging of authority

globalisation

Culture of the immediate - now

technology

individuality

……………… .that knowledge was inherently linked to time, place, social position and other factors from which an individual constructs their view of knowledge. To escape from constructed knowledge, it then becomes necessary to critique it, and thus deconstruct the asserted knowledge.

Patricia Piccinini INDIVIDUALITY

Patricia's works can contain computer animation huge sculptures, photography and video — all in the one installation. She insists that she has no hand in their construction. She is the one who comes up with the idea, sketches it, then, with the help of her designer husband Peter, enlists others to bring the idea to fruition.

"I made a quite difficult decision," she says. "I needed to give away painting because I thought it had too much sort of cultural baggage. I couldn't find a way to depict these new ideas in oil and so it meant I had no skills. And then I thought if I can't do anything, I can do everything if I work with other people, and that's when I started collaborating ."

Jeff Koons

JEFF KOONS

(B.1955)

17" X 17" X 11"

Porcelain vase, executed in 1998 in an edition of 3000. In the original box, as issued new.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jeff Koons ( b York, PA, 21 Jan 1955). American artist. He trained at Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (BA 1976), and worked as a Wall Street commodities broker before embarking upon his career as an artist. In the 1980s he won international recognition as a radical exponent of Neo-Geo, an American movement concerned with appropriation and parody.

Gordon Bennett

Racial prejudices Gordon

suffered early in his life

served as a base for a

series of work that he

produced. Using derogatory

terms of language he

Encountered such as

“ Boong”,“Coon” and “Darkie”.

He created a powerful work

which explored the

ethnocentric boundaries

implicit in language .

One case study could be the contemporary Japanese artist

Yasumasa Morimura

History series

Archibald Prize 2005 Rodney Pople pays homage to Goya’s portrayal of the Duchess of Alba (1797) by recasting the duchess as the contemporary artist Kerrie Lester. He has appropriated this image from art history for fun and to show the historically fluid quality of meaning –particularly the cryptic element of ‘writing in the sand’ to show Lesters’ involvement with the Archibald Prize. GOYA “Duchess of Alba” POPLE “Kerrie Lester” appropriation

Self portrait (Rembrandt & Saskia) 1994

Self portrait & Saskia 1636 by.....Rembrandt appropriation

Self portrait (Vermeer) 1994

Vermeer Jan Vermeer

Velasquez “ Maids of Honour”

daughters of history series

Me descending the stairs for Gerhard Richter, 1998, video projection

“ Richter, Gerhard Ema (Nude on a Staircase) 1966 Oil on canvas 6' 6 3/4" x 51 3/16" (200 x 130 cm) Museum Ludwig, Cologne