"Post Modernism
Post Modernism is categorized by the dissolution of traditional boundaries between art, architecture, popular culture, and (mass) media. Post modern works have been been accomplished by an open-ended process of borrowing ideas, art forms, and representations from the past and the present. (Robert Hirsch, Seizing the Light: A History of Photography)
Post Modernists believe meaning cannot be determined by surface appearances since everything from a photograph to a television program is a text that must be decoded. The act of deciphering the “text” and unveiling the hidden assumptions behind it is what Jacques Derrida calls “deconstruction.” (Robert Hirsch, Seizing the Light: A History of Photography)
The notion that there is not a single truth of experience is at the core of postmodern thinking. That is in direct opposition to the modernist view of trying to discover the “essence” of essential meaning in the world." (Robert Hirsch, Seizing the Light: A History of Photography)
Context
Post Modernism embraces the idea that the context that a piece of artwork is shown or seen changes its meaning or interpretation. Post Modern artists tried to understand how art might be viewed under different circumstances.
Appropriation
Appropriation is the act of borrowing imagery or forms to create something new. The act of appropriation is usually associated with Post Modern art practices and Roland Barthes' idea of the “death of the author.” Barthes maintains that all ideas or recycled and modified. Every idea is, in fact, a conglomeration of past ideas. Hence a work of art is a collective vision, not a singular one.
Conceptual Art
Conceptual Art is works in which the idea is equal to, if not more important than, the finished product. Conceptual art can take many forms, from photographs to texts to videos. Sometimes there is no object at all. Emphasizing the ways things are made more than how they look, conceptual art often raises questions about what a work of art can be. Conceptual art is also often difficult to collect or preserve as it can be the artist's own experience that is the work of art. (Art 21 definition)
Identity Politics
Identity, in an artistic sense, is associated with how one views oneself, how others perceive you, and how a society as a whole defines groups of people. Important to one's identity are ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class, as well as education, childhood, and life experience. For many, being an artist is not just an occupation but also an ethical responsibility. Much art today deals with what it means to be an artist in today's rapidly changing world. (Art 21 Definition)
Semiotics
Semiotics is the relation of language to things not natural but determined by culture. Language is a self contained system of signs made of two components: the signified and the signifier. Signifier = word, signified = mental associations of the word, conscious or unconscious, informed by culture.
Semioticians analyze these mental associations to understand how a society creates meaning and to find hidden meanings. Visual images, such as photographs, can communicate meaning in this way and, thus, can be analyzed as signs.
For more Postmodern Theories and definitions click here.
Postmodern Artists
Warhol
Andy Warhol if often considered the Father of postmodern art practice. Warhol was originally trained as a Graphic Artist and rose to fame with his giant silk screens of celebrity personalities, like Jackie O and Marilyn Monroe. He worked from his New York loft space, coined The Factory, alongside teams of people. He often exhibited enlarged versions of everyday objects, such as Brillo Boxes and Campbell's soup cans. Warhol sought to break down the barriers between high art and low art (fine art and design), disrupt the conventions of the gallery space, and turn popular culture into an acceptable fine art subject-matter. For Warhol, art was a subject not separate from but part of everyday life. His works must be appreciated for their gesture, concept, and message as well as their aesthetic appeal.
Andy Warhol, Lavender Marilyn, 1962
Warhol created this image by enlarging a newspaper photograph and silkscreening it on to canvas. In other words, he appropriated the photograph.
Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sherman and Prince started to incorporate aspects of appropriation into their artistic practices in order to expose truths about gender relations and identity. Sherman created a series of over 100 photographic film stills; each photograph was printed 8" x 10" (the size of a traditional still). In each film still, Sherman, herself, would play the character of the leading lady, thereby exposing Hollywood's stereotypical, female "types." Prince, on the other hand, re-photographed images from Marlboro cigarette advertising campaigns in order to expose the romantic mythology associated with the American male figure.
Richard Prince, Marlboro Man
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, 1978
Sophie Calle and William Wegman
Calle and Wegman are both Conceptual artists who incorporate humor and spontaniaty into their works in order to reveal issues regarding human experience. Calle challenges traditional artistic practices by making art work out of specific, systematic constraints. For example, In The Shadow, Calle hired a private detective to follow her and take photographs of her. In Blind, Calle interviewed Blind subjects and photographed their most beautiful sights (the ocean, for eample). Calle's work often explores ideas of representation; how do you picture somebody or someone? William Wegman, on the other hand, photographs dogs in distinctly human poses. His photographs, often humorous, technically flawless, and oddly sincere, poke fun at human beings and the lives to which they aspire.
Wiliam Wegman, On Set, 1994
Sophie, Calle, The Shadow, 1981
Lorna Simpson and Nan Goldin
Simpson and Goldin's photographs challenge ideas of representation. In other words, both women attempt to give the viewer insight into minority experiences. Simpson's seemingly simple artworks combine text and photograph to expose stereotypes and power structures that burden black women. Her works have a direct relationship to semiotics and language theories. Goldin, on the other hand, documents 1980s, queer sub culture. She gives us an intimate, loving look at the lives of the people she calls her "family."
Nan Goldin, Ivy with Marylin, Boston, 1973
Lorna Simpson, Wig II
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