Contemporary Art and Postmodernism

The Development of Art in the Current Times

The development of art in the current times and the future will become a complex area to understand for most customers of artwork. People are not sure which art they will categorize as postmodern and current (The Art Story, 2017). However, a loose differentiation of the two defines postmodern art, as the artistic works going against the innovations of the modernism while contemporary art are works of the contemporary artists taking current ideas. Contemporary art covers the particular time when an person exists while postmodern art has no limits. Fields of art covered under postmodernism and contemporary productions are not to any limits however extend to all the works artists can do (The Art Story, 2017). Different theorists described these types of art in postmodernism and contemporary in their ways. An example of a theorist is Hal Foster, an American artist. This paper defines the stand taken by Foster and includes the influences of such a concern to the contemporary and postmodern art.

Foster’s View of Art

Foster’s view of art was to contribute to the diversification of art in the current times and making it easy for individuals to have the assortment of work to choose. Such understandings remained to end some logical ladder of work passing from one generation to the other. His philosophies were that artists combined the old-fashioned and new methodologies of doing artwork (Foster, 2015). An example is an avant-garde, which he recommended would mix well in the current political critic in the efforts of artists. In doing so, people had the chance to evaluate the real things they could absorb and use in art while taking keen interest to filter hat they found unnecessary (Foster, 2015). These were in relations to technology and new inventions that were coming to art. While his stand was the adoption of these devices, there was a need to combine the ideas of traditional artwork into the current to reach a combination of the two (Foster, 2015). This is where most people take positions regarding art.

Fictional Artwork

Fictional artwork for example, while they may be imaginary in nature, represents the uncertain aspect of the future and that is the message that people try very hard to explain when they are not even expected to know anything about the future. However, in terms of communicating the challenges of irresponsible use of technology and or not being in control of our actions, fictional art speaks to challenges that failing to take of the environment could bring to the whole world. In this case, unlike in modern arts, postmodern arts expect different people to question and make their opinions about a piece of artwork without accepting a limited explanation by the artists. Fiction also helps to explain the unexpected results that are synonymous with the post-world war results. In the modern era of art, artists held themselves in a high position of need from others but the transition to postmodern art tries to deconstruct that sense. This explains why some of the drawings from modern era can be explained as drawings under instruction as opposed to following on the path of artistic creations oozing from the mind. Beyond the discrete aspects of art, postmodern art is also criticized for being limited in reality and that is because the use of technology to support the process is massive.

Personal Opinions

Personal opinions regarding this stand on art are in support of the ideas of Foster. The world evolves with more changes courtesy of the research people are making. Ideas come in and alter the appearance of artistic work while concepts remain the same (The Art Story, 2017). In bringing in modern, postmodern and contemporary ideas, artists should be concerned not to dwarf the history of the field. The current productions of art change from one to the other, with advancements from the past, in a way that erodes it of the past (Foster, 2015). Adopting new art should not make one take in the complexities brought to undermine the simple, abstract and old ideas of artists. Foster was right on this as most artists work according to the desires of individuals, who are after the changes of technology to the new environment, and what they use.

Combination of Art

Finally, a combination of art from old, modern, contemporary, postmodern neutralizes the ideas of people and comes with the advantage of making it easy to acquire an all-round view of the artwork. Individuals can make choices at will because of the variety of talents and diverse techniques of work (The Art Story, 2017). In doing so, no piece of art appears superior or dwarfed than the others. Besides, it creates a transition of time from one form of art to another, in an organized way.

The Influence of Technology in Postmodern Art

The postmodern and contemporary art use art to explain the current society and its limitations. Art is classified as ancient or modern and each classification is market by significant changes in art. The modern art represent the art instruments from the time around 1860s while postmodern art commences from 1960s. The process of developing art content in the current time has become integrated with the digital systems. This explains why art content is product under a different regime of colors and smooth tone. The change in color regime is partly due to poor understanding of the power that is in artistic communications. The position here is that art has changed and as it was the case before, they try to explain the moment that the artist is living and perhaps their thoughts in perspective of the changes that have taken place.

Art in Ancient Era vs. Current Times

Art in the ancient era was a tool for communication of singular and political ideologies but in the current times, that has changed. The current art utilizes diverse political scenes to communicate political ideologies that have been adopted for universality. For example, the lessons from Vietnam wars, and how that has changed the politics of other countries is attributed to the effects of postmodern art. Modern art have been observed to be artificial and that explains why postmodern arts are assumed to have a domineering style, which limit the absorption of the right information, by the target audience (Lee, 2013). Interrogation of different pieces of art on the same subject is likely to result in areas of convergence and divergence in thinking among the artists. The significance of these observations in understanding the construct of geopolitics is invaluable. An artist from Europe and one from the American region of New York are bound to send divergent opinions as compared to the case of the two artists from the same regions communicating on the same subject. A subject that is bound to elicit a sense of pride in the artists is such a typical case where the postmodern artists draft an interpretation that indifferent of their personal position on the same issue. For example, art works that credit their country of victory in joint battles like the world wars. Another artist from another region will make a piece of art that depicts the contribution that is considered an area of strength from their own country in the same battle. This is therefore regarded as an achievement of the postmodern art era.

Transition from Modern Art to Postmodern Art

Unlike the current world in art, in the modern art era artists were driven by aggressive ideologies and a one-sided regime between the student and the master. These approaches were characteristics of the general approach to leadership back then. Political leadership had one autonomous figure whose authority and wisdom were never challenged as a matter of principle. Postmodern art has tried to move away from that regime and it typically demonstrates the democratic space where positions are questioned by one party because they have stake in leadership too (Lee, 2013). In addition to that, postmodern art offers latitude of freedom to individuals to try and append their interpretations to ideologies as opposed to accepting content provided as absolute truth. This aspect of art is a demonstration of the feeling that there is one communication to any work of art. The viewer of the work of art is however the party with unlimited interpretation of the same work and in most cases, the views of the observers become more important to the artist themselves. Artists are able to advance the strength of their message in the artwork by pursuing the opinions of the observers objectively.

The Influence of Technology in Postmodern Art

The influence of technology in the postmodern art is evidently unlimited and that explains the use of three-dimensional artworks to explain the changing and unique political environment. These pieces of art combine figures from nature that communicate certain character limitations in leadership. The positive association of industrial revolution with modernization of human life is still explained in limited art since the essence of art is eroded with overuse of technology. Artists like Clement Greenberg in the US having become known for their advocacy of artistic purity, focused on singular formalism at the expense of the core substance of that art in question. Landmark events like the two world wars also shaped art a great deal. And most artworks tried to explain the battle for supremacy between the factions at war, and the strategies used were explained using art as well. The cultural era in the New York become an anticlimax to the abstract art and young artists challenged the same ideology for being stuck in the past following a change in the state of the world. The centre of focus for artists during this era was on the demonstration of power between the fighting identities, and how the results changed the geography, and politics of each region. The aspect of constant feeling of insecurity was also captured by this regime of art and that gave it a lasting identity of post-world war means documentation.

Pioneers of Contemporary and Postmodern Art

Jasper Jones and Robert Rauschenberg were the pioneers of the departure in the old art system to one that was reflective of the daily life experiences. The art regime that followed was much like a reflection of the resounding culture and feelings of the larger population as opposed to a past that was no longer in existence with the present (Lee, 2013). Most of the artists in this era drew motivation from artists like John Cage, and their reputation would later become the identity of the pop art and minimalism. The use of art to draw distinction between cultures of people as either being high or being low is an intrinsic feature that is borrowed from the representation of victory in modern art. For example, success was associated with the strong personalities, and wit and art tried to misrepresent that aspect in the modern day culture. Unlike the modern culture where rules kept a clear path of who were ascribed values of superiority, the postmodern era enables the artist to give himself or herself attributes that would otherwise be filtered by a modern artist.

Interpretation of Reality in Contemporary and Postmodern Art

In contemporary and postmodern art, each group of artists have been focused in explaining reality using one aspect of fundamental truth borrowed from the modernist era. For example, the view that every item presented in art is made of composite and discrete aspects of itself made the view on time and expression of abstract art to have multiple interpretation. As opposed to the modern era when art tried to explain the world in terms of authorities, the postmodern art gives that viewer latitude to give their insight on meaningful interpretations of the world. That is why the elements of cubism, surrealism, and expressionism are all integrated in the postmodern era of art. The postmodern art therefore tries to explain the society and human life using a set of belief that was non-existent in the modern art era. Postmodern era decline to adopt the aspect of authority in the definition leading to what art should or should not be. This break away from a rule bound set up created a new era of freedom in the field of art. The result of this move would turn out to be a new taste that is treated as either controversial or confrontational piece of art. While they blend with the past in irony this approach is largely about self-awareness. For example, the realities of one’s daily life can only be expressed by art developed by that individual.

Difference Between Modernism and Postmodernism

The biggest difference between modernism and postmodernism is the fact that the former was born out of idealistic reason while the latter was born out of skepticism and suspicion of reason. The facts being challenged for that matter are the existence of universalities and philosophical truths. This shifted attention from universal ideologies to singular interpretation of truths by individuals. In time, the experiences of individuals and interpretation of the mind become more resounding than the position of abstract principles. The overriding objective to obtain a reflection of the world made the modernist to experiment with technique, process and form. The exhaustive form of interpretation of art is typical of the postmodern artist and that means they end up with the most complex interpretation of art as compared to their modern counterparts who prefer to keep a simplistic approach. Application of art is thus a critical aspect of explaining the different circumstances that have universal interest. The difference in interpretation of the same circumstances can be attributed to the personalities ascribing to the approach of postmodern and the modern eras of art.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the works of contemporary and postmodern art are taking a dangerous place in societies. Artists are transiting from one form to another, carrying along the medium of change. Hal Foster, an artist in America, advises that contemporary and postmodern art should not take the chance of the inventions in the current world to dwarf the old artwork. Their changes mix with the ancient art to have a stable transition and a neutral presentation of art.

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