ART DURING THE POSTMODERN PERIOD

DECONSTRUCT TO RECONSTRUCT :

Stretching from the late 19th century to the middle 20th century. Postmodernism reached its peak in the 1960s, and it describes the period that followed during the 1960s and 1970s. Philosophers suggested that the structures were artificial within a culture and in order to analyze them they have to be deconstructed. Postmodernism can be considered as a reaction against the values and ideas of modernism, this term is associated with skepticism, irony, and physiological critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective relativity.

Postmodernism was basically a conceptual art, it was often believed that the purpose behind making art is more important than the art itself. It introduced a new era of freedom where anything goes, anything can be used to make art and there is no particular form for art. There’s no differentiation between high art, low art, fine art, cultural art and commercial art. The differences collapsed between high culture , mass or popular culture, between art and everyday life.

Modernism and Postmodernism

Modernists often tried to forge a better world inspired by science and universal truth. It took place in the late 19th and early 20th century. Modernism often paid a lot of attention to original artworks, in fact original art was considered as primary creations. Since it rejected realism, modernism was focused on using rational and analytical means to obtain knowledge. It also rejected traditional prose and poetry styles. This movement flourished between 1860s and 1940s, maybe till 1945 when the World War ended. Modernism was influenced by the first World War.

Postmodernism was prevalent from mid-twentieth century, was influenced by World War II and was based on unscientific, irrational thought processes and it rejected logical thinking, it deliberately used a combination of conventional ideas.

For Modernists “LESS WAS MORE” but to Postmodernist “LESS WAS A BORE”.

They also used a variety of styles, but their primary objective was to challenge the audience and make them ask questions. It was widely assumed that they had an obsessive need to recycle the past in order to create something fresh, which was often silly. The rise of mass media really helped Postmodernism take off, the world managed to interconnect never like before. For many it was liberating giving creative expression a dynamic and often an unsettling voice.

Postmodernism was considered as a general attitude rather than a movement. To some extent, this art movement cannot be defined as there is no particular style or theory. It embraces many different approaches of art making and begin with Pop Art in 1960s and to embrace much of what included conceptual art, neo-expressionism and feminist art. Women artists in twentieth century are associated with postmodern art since much theoretical articulation of their work emerged from French psychoanalysis and feminist theory that is strongly related to postmodern philosophy.

It is often funny, tongue- in- cheek or by ludicrous; it can be confrontational and controversial ,challenging boundaries of taste; most crucially, it reflects a self-awareness of style itself. Postmodern art, which often combines various artistic and popular styles and media, may consciously or unconsciously borrow from or make satirical comments on a variety of past styles.

Famous artists during postmodernism:

Weiwei: He was born in 1957 in Beijing, he was the son of a very popular Chinese poet Ai Qing and a multidisciplinary artist, architect, photographer, designer, critic and activist.

Weiwei's work successfully combines Western Postmodernism with traditional handcrafting, the majority of which were created during China's cultural revolution. He did an excellent job in bridging the present and the past at the same time., demonstrating the conflict between interpretation and conflict. His work, whether it was architecture, exhibitions, sculptures, or photography, reflected traditions and politics. His outspoken support for human rights and resistance to authority were well-known.

FAMOUS WORKS :

From Andy Warhol to Weiwei the logo Coca-Cola was often seen as a mark of modernity. Weiwei always saw it as tides of change and cultural conflict washing over his native China. His ongoing Coca-Cola vase series was interpreted. He painted the well known logo carefully on the Han Dynasty vases, the logo was in the color red which is unavoidable. According to him the emblem of American capitalism created a contrasting effect with ancient Chinese craft. It became very popular at the time, and he has continued to work on it since the first version in 1993, making it his longest-running work.

As an example of readymade another artwork called forever was made where cycles are joined together by their wheels.

He made many large-scale sculptures like the “Bird’s nest”, which was created for the Olympics in Beijing in collaboration with the other architects. He was exhibited in a number of countries throughout his career and now he is currently active in his profession as an architect.

One of the most remarkable and famous artwork is a series of photographs in which a jug belonging to the Han dynasty is left to fall on the ground. He was exhibited in many galleries of different countries, he also participated in the Venice Biennale and Kassels document later on in 2010 Tate modern was designed by him, which led to covering the museums turbines with porcelain pipes he had to collaborate with the Chinese artists to create something around 100m copies, covering the museum’s turbines with porcelain pipes.

In 2012 he had his first international exhibition due to his exile , having been accused of conspiracy in his native country he couldn't attend it. The exhibition was a retrospective titled Entrelacs and was dedicated to jeu de paume considered of 500 photos ,videos and texts, bringing together across different formats and key movements of his life. There was another exhibition “Resistance and tradition”at the centro Andaluz de arte contemporaneo.

His other famous artworks are

Birds nest :

Snake ceiling:

Descending light

• Cube light

• Rooted upon

• Remembering

CONCLUSION:

According to me postmodernism has given rise to a platform where everyone irrespective of their experience and knowledge could create art, by combining many techniques.It somehow managed to bridge the difference between an artist and a common man ,as there no specific style or qualification to make art.

-Rama Srivarsha_20bdc024