Post Modernism

- 'Postmodernism Term applied to a wide range of cultural analysis and production since the early 1970s. Whilst there are different attitudes to what postmodernism is, it is generally referred to as a significant shift in attitude away from the certainties of a modernism based on progress.
The cultural traits usually associated with postmodern cultural production include the acceptance of many styles, the importance of surface and the playful adoption of different styles through parody and pastiche.'

-'Term used from about 1970 to describe changes seen to take place in Western society and culture from the 1960s on. These changes arose from anti-authoritarian challenges to the prevailing orthodoxies across the board. In art, postmodernism was specifically a reaction against modernism. It may be said to begin with Pop art and to embrace much of what followed including Conceptual art, Neo-Expressionism, Feminist art, and the Young British Artists of the 1990s. Some outstanding characteristics of postmodernism are that it collapses the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture; that it tends to efface the boundary between art and everyday life; and that it refuses to recognise the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be.'

Modernism roughly 1860-1960

Logically Postmodernism is 1960-date

Modernism:
- Aspirational reaction to improve peoples lives.

- Form follows function

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, 1928 - 9

- Pare-dime of modernist architecture

- Minimalism, functionality

Post Modernism: 
- Reaction to modernist rules

- 21 yrs later WW2 starts and the same thing happens again (art form as a response)

Robert Venturi:
- ‘I like elements which are hybrid rather than “pure”, compromising rather than “clean”, distorted rather than “straight-forward”, ambiguous rather than “articulated”, perverse as well as impersonal....’

Sensburies ring in London (watered down version of Postmodernism)

- (Prince Charles quote) 'A monstrous….something'

- Bricolage (DIY) Mixing up of styles and materials 

- Parody create humour for Postmodernism.

Le Corbusier, Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, 1953 - 5 
- Set the notions for Postmodernism

- Las Vegas sums up Postmodernism - cultural identity? Opinions may vary

- There is no truth to material - all squeezed into one place

- Idea of something with an immediate thrill instead of waiting

- Las Vagas sums up that aspect in Postmodernism (disney world)

Philip Johnson, Sony Plaza (former AT&T Building), New York, 1978 - 84
- Roman tribe arch, decorative piece on top like a wardrobe

- defying the laws of modernism.

James Stirling, Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, 1977 - 1983

- Garish colours, colour coded. 

- It sticks 2 fingers up at the the Modernists

- Placed close to Notre Dame (historical area)

- Bright vibrant, slightly tacky?

James Stirling, Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, 1977 - 1983 (Post War Period)

- Carries of with garish colours

- Plays on heritage of museum

- Covered in basing of stone - underneath cheap construction

- Its meant to be humorous - pretending to be old

- Marble cladding - relatively cheap (blocks falling out the wall - create old illusion)

- Modernism would not of done this!

- Crome plated kettle (does same as the camping one)

- Taking all functions of previous design but spend more.

- The same with the orange or lemon squeezer.

- Looks like its walked out of a 1950 SCI FI movie

- Status - what Postmodernism is about (if you have money to spend)

Form is functional but the idea goes further.


Warhol Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962 (first to make a big deal)

- Taking screen printing, taking a piece of everyday sustenance (soup - Graphic Design) and

turns it into a piece of fine art. 
- Postmodernism democratises art. 

Lichtenstein does the same. Drowning Girl, 1963
- Replicates the dots of print. 

- Dumbing down? 
- Attention to detail is massive

- Taking pop culture and transforming it into fine art.

Jeff Koons

- Things reported in popular press? (Michael Jackson)

- Tacky porcelain model

Michael Craig Martin

- Does he believe his work is actually an oak tree?

- Mocking the congratulatory factor

Tracey Emin, Everyone I have ever slept with 1963 - 95, 1995
-Women have been represented in fine art and now coming to the fall in Postmodernism.

- Traditionally artist are men. Women feel they need to branch out and show they haven’t been recognised etc.

- The way society perceives women - sluts?

- Picasso is praised for sleeping with lots of models and this is almost a response as to why she does deserve the same praise.

- Auto biographical

- Buries her soul

Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel, 1994

Is it acceptable because it was made by a woman?

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Zygotic acceleration, biogenetic, de-sublimated libidinal model X 1000,1995

- Cloning? Suggests we all are clones?

- Scary, shocking

- Serious statement whether scientist can produce this?

- Confrontational 

Chris Ofili No Woman, No Cry 1998 and Holy Virgin Mary, 1996
- Talks about marginalised discourses 

- Steven Lawrence was murdered in race hate crime

- Representing black society in Britain

- Rastafarian colours

- Obvious links to black colours

- Larger than life - uses elephant dung (baked in sun)

- New yorkers were horrified to see the Virgin Mary painted black.

Shithead 
- Makes serious statements for ethnic minorities

- Makes black superhero out of dung.

Martin Creed, Work No. 227: The lights going on and off 2000
- Questions whether he is the artist or the electrician 

- Simplistic (easy money)

- Masking tape - tries to be confrontational

- Either he absolutely cares or is mocking the art establishment.

David Carson, Ray Gun, double page spread

- Designed to be illegible

- Visually arresting - pleasing

Barbara Kruger - I shop therefore I am (woman artist) (part of minority)

- Lacks any spiritual content

- Defines how we shop, what we buy
- Is it still artwork or has it entered advertising

- Challenging convention (is it mocking in shops?)

Banksy challenges Warhol design

- cheap, tacky style

- is it graffiti, urban art?

- Pop art is of the early forms of Postmodernism

- Are artists wanting to challenge the conventions of art? Is that their sole purpose?

Dr. Parsons, this is me by georg bush, pen and crayon, 2001
- George bush was illiterate - childish imagery portrays that represent the publics opinions on the war in countries

Make effort to create these pieces that serve no real purpose (lightning)

Postmodern aesthetic = Multiplicity of Styles & Approaches

Space for ‘new voices’