Discuss the contextual influences, main characteristics and main artists of Postmodern art Progressing rapidly from Modern

art in the late 19 th early 20th century a newer movement was born: Postmodernism: a movement defined by its revolt against the sterile and boring ideal of modern perfection (modernism). Postmodern artists explored new mediums through which to express their artistic potential such as: installation work, conceptual art and multimedia (film, sound, photography etc.) allowing for the gap between art, popular culture and the media to shrink and blur. Postmodernism rejected divisions in art, combining high art, fine art and kitsch art in single art spaces influenced by the growing consumerist culture whereby novelty and commercialism dominated the creative industries, bastardizing previous art movements into aesthetically camp items of public gratification and shock. Postmodernisms objective to break the boundaries of art, merging the artistic hierarchy and stir up controversy can be observed perfectly through the inception of conceptual art (1960s onward). Conceptual art or conceptualism, a movement defined by its priority of concept or idea over the tangible final product, disregarding material concerns in place of philosophical ones, questioning the very nature of art itself. The path for conceptualism was paved by Marcel Duchamp a French/American artist-, whose influence on the conceptual art movement was revolutionary, displaying his art for the first time, not as a finished piece but a documentation of an idea to be interpreted by the viewer, completing the creative process. The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. Duchamp An icon of Duchamps work was Fountain; a porcelain urinal, signed by the artist and submitted to the Society of Independent Artists to be ironically rejected by the justification of it being too visceral to the point of social un-acceptance. In December 2004, Duchamp's Fountain was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century by 500 selected British art world. Directly inspired by the creative act of Duchamp and conceptualism cam performance art: a new way to express an artistic feeling through the dynamic use of an event, manipulating space, sound, time and a performers body to create a visual spectacle intended to amuse, shock or inspire an accessible audience. Originating in the 1960s with the live presentation of poems, musicians and film makers, performance art looked for the purity of art, discarding the need for galleries, commissions or transactions as it was impossible to buy, sell or charge for viewing, the only thing a viewer was

intended to leave the piece with was a memorable experience, however horrific, shocking, humorous or inappropriate. Joseph Beuys How to explain pictures to a dead Hare saw the American artist coat his face in honey and gold leaf and exchange a monologue with a deceased hare, denying his viewers the right to listen as he locked the gallery from the inside, forcing viewers to stare through windows on a practice which appeared private, almost ritualistic. To Beuys the piece contained heavy symbolism, for example the honey in which his face was coated represented the products of bees; bees being the epitome of social harmony, warmth, hierarchy and brotherhood whilst the gold represented the irons of Mars, a symbol of masculinity and strength. The piece became infamous and the high point of Beuys' career. The 1960s also saw the rise of installation art, almost a bridge between performance art and conceptualism. This subgenre defined itself through site-specific pieces. Whether permanent or temporary installation art uses the space in which it is presented to create a stimulating, emotive experience through the artists use of space and light as well as incorporating film, music and animation (a testament to the growth of popular culture and the medias social influence). Installation art allows an artist to have complete creative freedom, with access to any media they choose, making Installation art one of the most diverse sub-genres in the postmodern movement. Installation art has an incredibly diverse history, from hundreds of miniature men, carved from ice, sitting outside in London until melted (Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo), to an inverted black hole boring into the side of a house (Houston artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck) the limitations of installation art are almost non-existent. For my critical study I chose to analyse American contemporary artist Bill Viola, whose work in a multitude of media (film, photography, sound etc.) has earned him international recognition for his expression through modern media. Violas work centres around human experiences with a particular focus on consciousness, birth and death. Violas photography ranges from Dolorosa to I am a woman, you are a machine, Dolorosa contains two photographic portraits of wistful and forlorn people, communicated through their facial expression, giving an atmosphere of individual grief and mourning, as the couple (who may or may not be

Dolorosa

I am a woman, you are a machine

romantically involved) are consumed by their own emotions, with no indication of interaction between the subjects, emphasized by their separate frames. I am a woman, you are a machine is also a photograph, showing a figure encased in falling water, obscuring the viewers perception of the subjects: gender, race, expression etc. The water blends seamlessly with the subjects features, elongating the limbs and fingers, flowing with the hair and masking the face to create almost a single, tenuous shape of undulating liquid. The lack of colour indicated dread and death, with the figure appearing pale. This image to me appears horrific as the distorting of the subject leads to mystery and fear as well as an indication of some supernatural, ghost like properties. Here Viola uses new technology with superior cameras to capture a moment in time when the elements and human become one surreal, dehumanized being. Exaggerating the effect with a black background and harshly lit figure, emphasising the highlights, shadows and tonality of the image. The collection of images in my interpretation appear as part of a narrative, a form of ghost or horror story in which the downtrodden humans ( Dolorosa) are haunted or even abducted by a terrifying witch like creature ( I am a woman) as seen in the popular cult film: The Blair Witch Project.