COP NOTES (Note to self) - Modernism, Post-Modernism, Conceptualism, Aestheticism, Minimalism, Simplistic-ism, Internetism, what else?? (research post)
- Just as the heading of this blog says, my brain hurts from educating myself with art theories and ideologies. ESPECIALLY with conceptualism and pretentious artists/art-lovers admiring blank, white paintings
Notes:
AESTHETICISM (19th-20th C)
- liberate art from morality, politics and social purpose
- a general movement
- "art for art's sake" --> derived from Japanese art (subtle moods, exploration of sophisticated mixture of colours/combination)
MODERNISM (20th C)
- experimental art
- trend: to seek answers to fundamentals questions about the nature of art and human experience
- Modernist art is subjective --> private, inward looking, relevant only to the artist or his/her group "bourgeois subjectivity"
- "Television culture" = existence of television sets and programmes along with them (source of information and educates the population)
POST-MODERNISM (1970s-180s)
- "It had been adopted by the corporate world and exploited at the expense of its social vision"
- belief: no society or culture is more important than any other
- explore and undermine the way society constructs and imposes a traditional hierarchy of cultural values & meanings
- place little faith in the unconscious as a source of creative and personal authenticity
Beyond the Post Modern aesthetics (older 20th C - today)
- humanist psychology of 'expression' and the manipulation of materials
- "regression in the service of ego"
- abstract nature of things
- IF modernism is to be moulded to our future purposes --> may result to socially useful art
- Professionals aren't driven by achieving publicly inspirational art - as opposed to work that simply happens to be shown in public
- vaguely intended for public consumption
- "Will the reign of the art market continue to inflect in wholly negative ways the acceptable meanings which are circulated in our society under the label of art?"
CONCEPTUALISM
- generally understands the 'idea' that shapes an artwork
MINIMALISM
- repetitive use of elements which has its own formal simplicity
- believes in the basic forms of a square, rectangle and circle
- criticised for ignoring complexity and nuance from sculpture, materials, intellectual aspects
SIMPLICITY
Social and Aesthetic Implications of the Art of the Electronic Age
- process of artistic creating and aesthetic exploration concerns technological artists more than the production of finite works of art
- Decoration and ornamentation --> dismissed as superficial in favour of simplicity, clarity, uniformity, purity, order and rationality
- "Pipedream of a society dominated by technical revolutions, global networks and inundations of information from mass media."
- Simplicity = Simplification + thoughtful reduction
Thoughts
- To sum up, everything seems to tie in. I could see the relevance between old art theories and the current art practice. Though what I feel that is prominent is that time, technology, culture and society plays a significant role in creative practitioners and their work.
- I suppose what defines 'exceptional' or 'revolutionary' artworks changes through time. Now almost everything is mainly dictated by the media, digital world and caters clients.
Source:
Little, S. ISMS Understanding Art. 2004. Herbert Press. London.
Schopf, C & Stocker, G. Simplicity the Art of Complexity: Ars Electronica. 2006. Gutenberg-Webering Gesellschaft Press. Hatje Verlag, Germany.
Taylor, B. Modernism, Post-Modernism, Realism: a critical perspective for art. 1990. 3rd Printing. Winchester School of Art Press, Hampshire.
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