1. In the last chapter we determined…
The emotional and psychological effects of modern warfare
with modern technology lead to:
Escape through complete Abstraction
A need for the spiritual through abstraction
With Modernism dead, so is the artist and his subjective
reality. As war shows us, Western man is brutal, evil, rather
than creative.
With Modernism dead, the US seeks to consume (like the Pop
Artists note).
That leads us into this week’s set of Guiding Questions.

2. Guiding Question(s)
 Who are we? How have we been traditionally
defined? With what methods can we question
tradition?
Definitions of Art
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Social Problems
After generations of taking for granted what
we know, the Postmodernists are going to
question EVERYTHING.

3. Postmodernism Defined
 PM will delve into the conceptual, art that is based on IDEA
rather than an outcome
 Much of PM work will be unintelligible without a knowledge
of the artist’s explored idea
 PM will assert that identity (gender, race, self, nation) is
constructed
 Our truths are informed by biases and biases (rooted in
language) should be deconstructed
 After the hope of Modernism that says the Artist is God and is
creative, PM says that nothing is original
 After the promises of modernism are dashed, PM will resign
that the banal is all we can hope for or trust
 Emphasis on bodily fluids
 Emphasis on the ugly

4. Guiding Historical Events
1945 Formation of the United Nations
Signals the globalization of world
economies, but also presents a united
front against WORLD problems no
longer seen only in nationalistic terms
1966 Formation of National
Organization of Women
Signals a shift in women’s rights
Invention of Reality TV in the 80’s
A reminder that we are voyeuers and
that we are disconnected

5. DECONSTRUCTION—the primary tool of postmodernists
 Developed by Jacques Derrida
 Language can mask meaning instead of making it
clear
 Language depends on cultural contexts
 SO…
 Deconstruction seeks to “take apart” assumed
traditions
 Makes the hero the anti-hero and the antagonist
the hero
 In literature, we see Kazantzakis’ The Last
Temptation of Christ and Lagerkvist’s Barabbas

6. Gender is a Construct
Male, Female= Sexes (anatomy),
Man, Woman= Genders (roles)
 IDEA--Film culture
determines gender
roles
 IDEA--Gender is a
disguise we wear, like
a set of clothes
Cindy Sherman, from the
Untitled Film series, 1978

7. Race/Ethnicity is a Construct
Race=system of classification of humans into groups
Ethnicity=cultural aspects (economic, language, social status
 Reclaims iconography
that traditionally
stereotypes black
women, i.e. the
Mammy
 Here the “slave” takes
control of her own life
and takes up arms
against inequality
Betye Saar’s Liberation of
Aunt Jemima, 1972

8. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the
First, 1982
 Comments on race and ethnicity—
the exploitation of black heroes
(Martin Luther, Malcolm X, here
Charlie Parker, who dies at the age
of 34)
 Artist identifies with black artists
who fall from grace
 Basquiat overdoses at 27
 Transitions between street art and
the fine arts
 Says that mistakes ARE art

9. Art is a construct
Art no longer belongs to the Elite
Art no longer must even be seen by an Audience

10. Art is a Construct
Art no longer belongs to the Gallery World
 Anonymous artist working
under a tag name
Anonymity functional
and anti-establishment
 Graffiti as Street Art
 Prank as Art Performance
Street Art by Banksy

11. Christo and
Jean-Claude
Defy the idea that “art” can be a
commodity
Environmental Art
Ephemeral (not meant to last)
Communal (art belongs to everyone)
Based on the concept that
wrapping objects brings them to
our consciousness again
To CONCEAL is to reveal
To REVEAL is to conceal

12. Art is a Construct
Art no longer must be seen by an audience
 In remote, inaccessible location
 Environmental Art as Ephemeral (changes as nature, not
the artist, determines)
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, in the Great Salt Lake of Utah

13. The Self is a Construct
A series of constructs we simulate (act out), usually unconsciously
Self as Bias
 A set of assumptions
 Gender we make about
ourselves and others
 Sexual Orientation based on our own
experiences
 Social Class
 Ethnicity  Neither good nor bad;
it’s what we do with
 Nationality them.
 Religious Belief
 Leads to “Political
correctness” debacle

14. Andres Serrano’s
Piss Christ
 If we really want to know
ourselves, we have to confront
our biases through the banal.
 To know Christ is to confront
his humanity, and ours.
 Urine is considered dirty by
Western society, BUT
 In fact, it is quite sterile out of
the body, and
 Urination is required to live.
Which means Christ had to
urinate.
 What initially seems profane is
in fact the artist’s efforts to
SHOCK us into questioning our
biases

15. In subsequent presentations, you will
learn more about:
 The role of the National Endowment for the
Arts in contemporary commissions
 Feminist Art
 Conceptual Art with components of
Performance Art