Post-modernism
Postmodernist ArtDefinition, Characteristics, History
Contents
• Definition
• Characteristics of Postmodernist Art
• Movements
• Postmodernist Art: Aesthetics & Public Response
• The Future
Definition of Postmodernist Art:
An avant-garde form of contemporary art, postmodernism has been described as "A late 20th Century style and conceptual theory in the arts and architecture, characterized by a general distrust of ideologies as well as a rather 'difficult' relationship with what constitutes art."
It sounds pretty simple. It's only when you start digging and uncover tricky concepts like "modernity" (not the same as modernism) and "post-modernity" (different to postmodernism) that your head starts to spin. So let's skip the complex stuff and focus on a few essentials. Art critics, historians, curators and PhD students of contemporary aesthetics, can stop here.
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| Fig 1. Nationale Nederlanden Building, Prague (1992-97)By architect Frank Gehry, the founder of deconstructivism,the most distinctive form of postmodernist architecture. |
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| Fig 2. Postmodernist Body Painting (2008) Breathing new life into a traditionalart form. |
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| Fig 3. Sleeper, by Mark Wallinger, Winner Of Turner Prize (2007). |
Characteristics of Postmodernist Art
Before explaining postmodernist art, let's talk about modern art - the style it replaced.
Modern Artists Believe Life and/or Art Has Meaning
Modern art is usually associated with the era 1860-1960s - basically from Impressionism to half-way through the Pop-Art movement. Modern artists (like all practitioners of modernism) believed in the fundamental scientific laws of reason and rational thought. They also believed that life had meaning - at least until the senseless butchery of World War I. (See: Dada.) Even after the war, they still believed that sufficient meaning could be rediscovered by a combination of unprejudiced rational thought and art. (Example: Surrealism.) The existential character of Jackson Pollock's paintings may be seen as heralding a major shift in painting conventions, which was further developed by Neo-Dada, Pop and Minimalist artists.
Disillusionment Sets In
Unfortunately, by the mid-1960s, this confidence had wilted under the successive hammer blows of the Nazi Holocaust, post-colonial rigidity, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, causing people to become progressively more disillusioned about the inherent meaning and value of life (and art). Of course not everyone, and not all artists, became disillusioned. One group who maintained their faith were those in the upper reaches of the organizational hierarchies of society, including the arts. This naturally led to tension between them and others lower down.
In architecture, the situation was slightly different. Modernist building design was characterized by a desire to create a brand new style for "modern man". Modernist architects wanted to eliminate all historical references and create something entirely fresh. (So no Greek columns, Gothic style arches, or any other reminders of 'past' styles.) Unfortunately, this led to a universal style of minimalist regularity (think Twin Towers, New York; or the National Theatre London), leavened with some truly awful Brutalism - the concrete apartment blocks with tiny windows. Mercifully, around 1970, Postmodernist architects began to re-humanize late 20th century architecture by designing structures with interestingfeatures, taken from popular culture and from more traditional styles. See American Architecture, for more details of both modernism and postmodernism.
The Postmodern EraThe post-60s period in visual art and design has been characterized by a number of factors:
• A widespread disillusionment with life, as well as the power of existing value-systems and/or technology to effect beneficial change. As a result, authority, expertise, knowledge and eminence of achievement has become discredited. Artists have become more and more wary about "big ideas." New styles of art have failed to attract them in the way that Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism or Surrealism captured the imagination of earlier generations. Small is now good, so postmodernist schools have tended to be more local.
• New educational priorities, which began to emphasize the pursuit of skills rather than knowledge-for-its own sake. As a result, artists and art students became less interested in absorbing the traditions and craft of their subject, and instead focused on mastering production techniques. Individual creativity and interpretation have become as (or more) important than the gradual acquisition of painterly skills.
• The emergence of new image-based technologies (eg. Television, video, screenprinting, computers, the Internet, LEDs), which generated a huge wave of film and photographic imagery - of places, events and international celebrities - and lessened reliance on draughtsmanship, in the process. By manipulating this new technology, artists (inc. painters, printmakers, sculptors and others involved in newer forms like installation) have been able to short-cut the traditional processes involved in "making art," but still create something new. An interesting example is the photography of Diane Arbus, which focuses on freaks and members of minorities in New York City.
• The growth of consumerism and instant gratification over the last few decades of the 20th century has also had a huge impact on the visual arts. Modern consumers want novelty. They also want entertainment. In response, many top contemporary artists, curators and other professionals have taken the opportunity to turn art into a "product." For example, installation and video have allowed consumers to experience art in a much more pro-active way. The public's desire to be shocked and stimulated has been met, if not satisfied, by new artistic subject-matter, like dead tiger sharks, huge ice-sculptures, crowds of of nude bodies, demonstrations of dying flies, islands wrapped in pink polypropylene fabric,sand art, and so on. Whether these new so-called artforms actually constitute "art" remains a hotly-contested issue. The avant-garde conceptualists say "Yes", the traditionists say "No".
Collections of Postmodernist Art
For two excellent displays of postmodernist art, visit the Saatchi Gallery, in London, or the Guggenheim, New York.
Postmodernism In a Nutshell
To paraphrase Andy Warhol, "anyone can be famous for 15 minutes". This idea, more than any other, sums up the postmodernist age. Faced with a new non-sensical world, the postmodernist response has been:
Okay, let's play around with this nonsense. We accept that life and art no longer have any obvious intrinsic meaning, but so what? Let's experiment, make art more interesting, and see where it leads. Who knows, maybe we can be famous for 15 minutes!
Impact of Postmodernism
The postmodern approach has proved extremely popular with many students of fine art. Suddenly, instead of having to work tirelessly at honing their painterly skills in draughtsmanship, perspective, composition, colour theory and all the other things required by traditional artists, they could dream up a nifty idea, issue a suitably "meaningful" manifesto and Bingo! They were famous. Or at least that's how it seemed.
Meanwhile those painters and sculptors who had acquired those painstaking traits, were iced by an arts establishment who embraced postmodernism with Stalinesque rigour. Thus for example in Britain, in 2002, when the prestigious Turner Prize was won by Keith Tyson for his creation of a large black monolithic block filled with discarded computers, not a single painter had been considered as a possible recipient of the prize.
This cocktail of experimentation, focus on instant process, and enhanced communication facilities, has led inexorably to a huge shift in the way art is perceived, produced and promoted. Conceptualism is now a dominant force, and its advocates within the arts establishment are now in a position to determine what constitutes such important things as "innovation", or "outstanding art". One can't help feeling that the "meaning" of an artwork has now overtaken its aesthetic qualities, thus relegating the notion of craftsmanship to a second division form of art. This has significant implications, not just for art students seeking to acquire skills, but also for professional artists competing for public commissions and exhibition space.
Postmodern Art Movements
So far, there have been no great international art movements during the postmodernist period. Instead, the era has been characterized by a number of national movements along with several brand new artforms. In addition, there have been dozens of artistic splinter groups, as well as one or two anti-postmodernist schools whose members have endeavoured to produce the sort of art that Michelangelo or Picasso would have been proud of. Here is a brief list of the main post-modern movements, with explanatory comments.
• Pop Art (1960s onward)
Championed by Andy Warhol (1928-87) who made fine art from banal, mass-produced imagery. For more, seeAndy Warhol's Pop Art of the sixties and seventies.
• Conceptual Art (1960s onward)
Original objects of art are boring: it's the idea that counts. See Yves Klein.
• Performance Art and Happenings (Early 1960s onwards)
Pioneered by such figures as John Cage (1912-92), this genre became a new way to make art accessible to the masses. See also Gilbert & George.
• Installation Art (1960s onwards)
A new way to draw spectators INTO the artwork. Made extensive use of "found objects" - as exemplified by Tracey Emin's My Bed (1999).
• Video (1960s onwards). See also: Animation.
Art becomes dynamic, more absorbing, more exciting. Both video and animation are becoming dependent on the use of computer art to manipulate and control images.
• Minimalism (1960s onwards)
A refuge of intellectual painters and sculptors anxious about "purity" in art.
• Photorealism (1960s, 1970s)
Copying photographs is easier and more fun than learning how to pain portraits. See Chuck Close.
• Land Art (mid-1960s)
No greedy commercial galleries involved (supposedly). Championed by the experimental artist Robert Smithson(1938-73). See also the 'wrapping' interventions in nature, by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (both b.1935).
• Supports-Surfaces (c.1966-72)
Experimental shock tactics to gain fame.
• Post-Minimalism (1971 onwards)
A fun way to create objective art that deteriorates.
• New Subjectivity (1970s)
A halfway-house between classical art and postmodern anarchy. Fabulous works!
• Graffiti Art (Late 1960s/early 1970s onwards)
Ultimate postmodernist movement: instant painting, instant fame. See the biography of graffiti terrorist and street artist Banksy (b.1973-4). For the most successful graffiti painter, see: Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88), the New York stencil artist who went mainstream.
• Neo-Expressionism (1979 onwards)
Renaissance art strikes back! An anti-post-modernist movement.
• Young British Artists/ Britart (Late 1980s/1990s)
Combination of breathtaking business-savvy opportunism and shocking ideas. An explosion of extreme bad taste dressed up as art. The public loved it. Three of the most famous YBAs are Damien Hirst (b.1965), Tracey Emin(b.1963) and Jenny Saville (b.1970). The group's main sponsor was the art collector Charles Saatchi.
• Art Photography
The YBAs were just one of several postmodernist groups to champion the use of camera art. In fact, works by thegreatest photographers soon passed the $1 million mark at auction. But see also: Is Photography Art?
• Neo-Pop Art (late 1980s onwards)
Huge plastic sculptures of children's toys and lots more in the same vein, exemplified by the works of Jeff Koons (b.1955).
• Postmodernist Sculpture (1970s onwards)
Postmodernism In a Nutshell
To paraphrase Andy Warhol, "anyone can be famous for 15 minutes". This idea, more than any other, sums up the postmodernist age. Faced with a new non-sensical world, the postmodernist response has been:
Okay, let's play around with this nonsense. We accept that life and art no longer have any obvious intrinsic meaning, but so what? Let's experiment, make art more interesting, and see where it leads. Who knows, maybe we can be famous for 15 minutes!
Impact of Postmodernism
The postmodern approach has proved extremely popular with many students of fine art. Suddenly, instead of having to work tirelessly at honing their painterly skills in draughtsmanship, perspective, composition, colour theory and all the other things required by traditional artists, they could dream up a nifty idea, issue a suitably "meaningful" manifesto and Bingo! They were famous. Or at least that's how it seemed.
Meanwhile those painters and sculptors who had acquired those painstaking traits, were iced by an arts establishment who embraced postmodernism with Stalinesque rigour. Thus for example in Britain, in 2002, when the prestigious Turner Prize was won by Keith Tyson for his creation of a large black monolithic block filled with discarded computers, not a single painter had been considered as a possible recipient of the prize.
This cocktail of experimentation, focus on instant process, and enhanced communication facilities, has led inexorably to a huge shift in the way art is perceived, produced and promoted. Conceptualism is now a dominant force, and its advocates within the arts establishment are now in a position to determine what constitutes such important things as "innovation", or "outstanding art". One can't help feeling that the "meaning" of an artwork has now overtaken its aesthetic qualities, thus relegating the notion of craftsmanship to a second division form of art. This has significant implications, not just for art students seeking to acquire skills, but also for professional artists competing for public commissions and exhibition space.
Postmodern Art Movements
So far, there have been no great international art movements during the postmodernist period. Instead, the era has been characterized by a number of national movements along with several brand new artforms. In addition, there have been dozens of artistic splinter groups, as well as one or two anti-postmodernist schools whose members have endeavoured to produce the sort of art that Michelangelo or Picasso would have been proud of. Here is a brief list of the main post-modern movements, with explanatory comments.
• Pop Art (1960s onward)
Championed by Andy Warhol (1928-87) who made fine art from banal, mass-produced imagery. For more, seeAndy Warhol's Pop Art of the sixties and seventies.
• Conceptual Art (1960s onward)
Original objects of art are boring: it's the idea that counts. See Yves Klein.
• Performance Art and Happenings (Early 1960s onwards)
Pioneered by such figures as John Cage (1912-92), this genre became a new way to make art accessible to the masses. See also Gilbert & George.
• Installation Art (1960s onwards)
A new way to draw spectators INTO the artwork. Made extensive use of "found objects" - as exemplified by Tracey Emin's My Bed (1999).
• Video (1960s onwards). See also: Animation.
Art becomes dynamic, more absorbing, more exciting. Both video and animation are becoming dependent on the use of computer art to manipulate and control images.
• Minimalism (1960s onwards)
A refuge of intellectual painters and sculptors anxious about "purity" in art.
• Photorealism (1960s, 1970s)
Copying photographs is easier and more fun than learning how to pain portraits. See Chuck Close.
• Land Art (mid-1960s)
No greedy commercial galleries involved (supposedly). Championed by the experimental artist Robert Smithson(1938-73). See also the 'wrapping' interventions in nature, by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (both b.1935).
• Supports-Surfaces (c.1966-72)
Experimental shock tactics to gain fame.
• Post-Minimalism (1971 onwards)
A fun way to create objective art that deteriorates.
• New Subjectivity (1970s)
A halfway-house between classical art and postmodern anarchy. Fabulous works!
• Graffiti Art (Late 1960s/early 1970s onwards)
Ultimate postmodernist movement: instant painting, instant fame. See the biography of graffiti terrorist and street artist Banksy (b.1973-4). For the most successful graffiti painter, see: Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88), the New York stencil artist who went mainstream.
• Neo-Expressionism (1979 onwards)
Renaissance art strikes back! An anti-post-modernist movement.
• Young British Artists/ Britart (Late 1980s/1990s)
Combination of breathtaking business-savvy opportunism and shocking ideas. An explosion of extreme bad taste dressed up as art. The public loved it. Three of the most famous YBAs are Damien Hirst (b.1965), Tracey Emin(b.1963) and Jenny Saville (b.1970). The group's main sponsor was the art collector Charles Saatchi.
• Art Photography
The YBAs were just one of several postmodernist groups to champion the use of camera art. In fact, works by thegreatest photographers soon passed the $1 million mark at auction. But see also: Is Photography Art?
• Neo-Pop Art (late 1980s onwards)
Huge plastic sculptures of children's toys and lots more in the same vein, exemplified by the works of Jeff Koons (b.1955).
• Postmodernist Sculpture (1970s onwards)
Postmodernist plastic art has been heavily influenced by the following artists: Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), the Swiss kinetic artist; the superrealist sculptors Duane Hanson (1925-96) and John De Andrea (b.1941); the Frenchman Arman (1928-2005), known for his "accumulations"; the minimalists Donald Judd (1928-94),Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) and Robert Morris (b.1931); the pop-art sculptor Claes Oldenburg (b.1929); Richard Serra (b.1939) and Anish Kapoor (b.1954), both known for their large-scale public works; Bruce Naumann (b.1941), the innovative postmodernist artist best known for his neon sculptures.
• Deconstructivism (1980s-2000)
• Deconstructivism (1980s-2000)
Postmodernist style of architecture, exemplified by the work of Los Angeles architect Frank O. Gehry (b.1929), as well as Daniel Libeskind, Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi and the Co-op Himmelblau group. Gravity-defying Deconstructivist architecture often involves computer-assisted designwork using high-tech software, as well as the resources of cutting-edge firms of architects like Skidmore Owings and Merrill.
Postmodernist Splinter Art Groups
In keeping with the contemporary post-modern idea that most 20th century ideological systems are flawed, if not actually bankrupt, and that salvation (if it exists at all) lies in "local" rather "global" schools of painting, sculpture and other artforms, contemporary artists have tended to associate in small groups. Information on the individual styles of these mini-postmodernist movements can be hard to come by, but if you want to research them here is short list, in approximate chronological order:
Copy Art, Eat Art, Neo-Geo, Mail Art, Equipo Cronica, Mec Art, Groupe Zebra, BMPT, Cooperative des Malassis, Lowbrow, East Village, Panique Szafran, Appropriation Simulation, Bad Painting, Demoscene, Pittura Colta (Anacronismo), Massurrealism, Pluralism, Relational Art, Figuration Savante, OuPeinPo, Sound Art, Superflat, Massurrealism, Artefactoria, Toyism, Lowbrow, Tiki Art, Bitterism, Thinkism, Funism.
Postmodernist Art
The Challenging Aesthetics of Postmodernism
Equivalent 1 (1966, Kunstmuseum, Basel) by Carl Andre (b.1935) is one of those works of art that need to be explained by an expert before it can be appreciated. It's apostmodernist minimalist sculpture consisting of 120 regular building bricks. The bricks are laid on top of each other on the floor in two layers of 60 bricks, set out in a precise rectangular configuration of three units by twenty units. At first glance, this masterpiece of contemporary art looks like something you might see on a super-tidy building site. Fortunately, your art gallery catalogue tells you that Andre took his radical decision to make art flat on the floor in 1965, when canoeing on a lake in New Hampshire. What's more, this majestic pile of minimalist bricks exemplifies his artistic creed that "form = structure = place." As it happens, the original Equivalent 1 was "destroyed" in 1966 and "remade" in 1969. (Maybe they needed the bricks for something).
Another exciting work, this time of postmodernist performance art, ocurred in December last year, when Rita Marcalo (b.1962), an award-winning choreographer and long-time epilepsy sufferer induced a fit at the Bradford Playhouse in England, in order to educate people about epilepsy. Marcalo received a British Arts Council grant of almost £14,000 for his creative efforts.
However this postmodernist happening is nothing in comparison to the antics of the American postmodernist performance artist Chris Burden (b.1946). He became famous during the 1970s for burning, shooting and impaling himself, and afterwards selling "relics" of his self-destructive acts in art galleries in Los Angeles. Who said art was boring?
Postmodernist Art Liked By Public
Lest you get the impression that (eg) all art since the mid-1960s has been a load of rubbish, or that all Britart is complete nonsense, I should emphasize that a good deal of avant-garde art has been well-received by the general public - as interesting, stimulating and innovative - and bears comparison with a lot of stuff produced by earlier masters, including Picasso. This is especially true in the field of video, animation and installation, and in the fine arts of painting and sculpture. Also, one should not forget that the earlier modern era produced its fair share of flakes and fruitcakes, as well as such gobsmacking masterpieces as "Fountain" (1917) - a relica of a public urinal - by the legendary avant-garde French artist Marcel Duchamp.
The Ultimate in Postmodernism
Postmodernist Splinter Art Groups
In keeping with the contemporary post-modern idea that most 20th century ideological systems are flawed, if not actually bankrupt, and that salvation (if it exists at all) lies in "local" rather "global" schools of painting, sculpture and other artforms, contemporary artists have tended to associate in small groups. Information on the individual styles of these mini-postmodernist movements can be hard to come by, but if you want to research them here is short list, in approximate chronological order:
Copy Art, Eat Art, Neo-Geo, Mail Art, Equipo Cronica, Mec Art, Groupe Zebra, BMPT, Cooperative des Malassis, Lowbrow, East Village, Panique Szafran, Appropriation Simulation, Bad Painting, Demoscene, Pittura Colta (Anacronismo), Massurrealism, Pluralism, Relational Art, Figuration Savante, OuPeinPo, Sound Art, Superflat, Massurrealism, Artefactoria, Toyism, Lowbrow, Tiki Art, Bitterism, Thinkism, Funism.
Postmodernist Art
The Challenging Aesthetics of Postmodernism
Equivalent 1 (1966, Kunstmuseum, Basel) by Carl Andre (b.1935) is one of those works of art that need to be explained by an expert before it can be appreciated. It's apostmodernist minimalist sculpture consisting of 120 regular building bricks. The bricks are laid on top of each other on the floor in two layers of 60 bricks, set out in a precise rectangular configuration of three units by twenty units. At first glance, this masterpiece of contemporary art looks like something you might see on a super-tidy building site. Fortunately, your art gallery catalogue tells you that Andre took his radical decision to make art flat on the floor in 1965, when canoeing on a lake in New Hampshire. What's more, this majestic pile of minimalist bricks exemplifies his artistic creed that "form = structure = place." As it happens, the original Equivalent 1 was "destroyed" in 1966 and "remade" in 1969. (Maybe they needed the bricks for something).
Another exciting work, this time of postmodernist performance art, ocurred in December last year, when Rita Marcalo (b.1962), an award-winning choreographer and long-time epilepsy sufferer induced a fit at the Bradford Playhouse in England, in order to educate people about epilepsy. Marcalo received a British Arts Council grant of almost £14,000 for his creative efforts.
However this postmodernist happening is nothing in comparison to the antics of the American postmodernist performance artist Chris Burden (b.1946). He became famous during the 1970s for burning, shooting and impaling himself, and afterwards selling "relics" of his self-destructive acts in art galleries in Los Angeles. Who said art was boring?
Postmodernist Art Liked By Public
Lest you get the impression that (eg) all art since the mid-1960s has been a load of rubbish, or that all Britart is complete nonsense, I should emphasize that a good deal of avant-garde art has been well-received by the general public - as interesting, stimulating and innovative - and bears comparison with a lot of stuff produced by earlier masters, including Picasso. This is especially true in the field of video, animation and installation, and in the fine arts of painting and sculpture. Also, one should not forget that the earlier modern era produced its fair share of flakes and fruitcakes, as well as such gobsmacking masterpieces as "Fountain" (1917) - a relica of a public urinal - by the legendary avant-garde French artist Marcel Duchamp.
The Ultimate in Postmodernism
In March 2009, the French National Museum of Contemporary Art at the Pompidou Centre in Paris staged the ultimate exhibition of postmodernist art. Entitled The Specialisation of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilised Pictorial Sensibility, it consisted of nine completely empty rooms. Echoes of Le Void, Yves Klein's ground-breaking show held at the Galerie Iris Clert, in Paris, in 1958!
The Future of Postmodernist Art
In its present "conceptualist" form, post-modern art will no doubt continue to produce arresting works to satisfy the public. After all, we live in an age dominated by TV programs like Big Brother, endless TV Soaps, and a host of foods that are injurious to our health. Against this background, I'm sure that contemporary artworks featuring cute nail art, diamond-encrusted skulls, dead sharks, and crowds of naked subjects, will do very nicely. Whether these creative gems constitute art: whether they can be legitimately regarded as "aesthetic": whether they are capable of maintaining the varied traditions of previous artists like John Singer Sargent, Ansell Adams, or Jackson Pollock - let alone Rembrandt or Vermeer: and whether they are capable of inspiring younger generations - these are all very different questions, which require answers from someone much cleverer than myself.
Task 5:
The Future of Postmodernist Art
In its present "conceptualist" form, post-modern art will no doubt continue to produce arresting works to satisfy the public. After all, we live in an age dominated by TV programs like Big Brother, endless TV Soaps, and a host of foods that are injurious to our health. Against this background, I'm sure that contemporary artworks featuring cute nail art, diamond-encrusted skulls, dead sharks, and crowds of naked subjects, will do very nicely. Whether these creative gems constitute art: whether they can be legitimately regarded as "aesthetic": whether they are capable of maintaining the varied traditions of previous artists like John Singer Sargent, Ansell Adams, or Jackson Pollock - let alone Rembrandt or Vermeer: and whether they are capable of inspiring younger generations - these are all very different questions, which require answers from someone much cleverer than myself.
Task 5:
Study on the art work Michael Jackson and Bubbles by Jeff Koons and give an interpretation of the art work.
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| Fig 4. Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, (1988) © Jeff Koons |
Art work Analysis
Analysis on Post-modern Art
By Mark Oseyi E Ibhade
12/19/2014
(Michael Jackson and Bubbles) (1988) by
Jeff Koons sculpture | ceramic, glaze, and paint Viewed online at San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art Collection Works of Jeff Koons (December 19, 2014)
Michael Jackson and Bubbles
Jeff Koons sculptured piece titled
Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988) represents a depiction of popular
American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson a.k.a (The King of Pop)
and his domesticated pet monkey named Bubbles. The piece is
life-sized porcelain sculpture created in 1988 within the framework
of Koons Banality series and shows the superstar reclining with his
arm around the monkey. Only three of the Michael Jackson and Bubbles
sculpture were made. One of the piece’s present location is
displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the two other
versions are in Athens and in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The piece is a sculpture made from porcelain (42 x 70.5 x 32.5 inches),
and it can be seen from all side because Koons made a slight change
in the variation of the posture and adjusted therefore direction of
view composition to fit sculptural work requirements which makes it
possible for many different viewing angles.
The work is a colourful depiction of
Michael Jackson and Bubbles as released earlier in press publicity
photograph of Michael Jackson and Bubble. However, Koons made use of
homogeneously bright colours in his work. Michael Jackson's face and
that of Bubble's are painted in similar colours white and gold and a
touch of red. In contrast, the base background is a solid flower bed
painted in white and gold colour.
In Michael Jackson and Bubble
sculpture, both faces and hair are emphasized and the dominant
elements are their hair because of the homogeneous colours and their
gaze. Koons uses implied lines to attract viewers’ eyes around the
artwork thereby creating a nice circular 'current' that keeps the
viewer's eyes flowing around the artwork repeatedly, holding their
attention.
The implied lines are the strands of Michael Jackson’s
hair that direct viewers’ eyes to focus on the hair down to the
face. Some bundle of hair goes down to rest on the left side
shoulder. Which brings the viewers eye direction to the left
shoulder down to the left arm. However, this implied lines is
balanced asymmetrically by the hair toward the bottom of the Bubble's
face and the light contour lines used in both arm of Bubble. This
implied lines on Michael Jackson and Bubble is strong enough to
balance the solid flower bed base.
In this piece, the light source is very
visible because Koons uses a white colour on top of the gold colour
that is already present on the clothes of Michael Jackson and Bubble
which makes it seem like a glow is cast upon their face, chest and
hands. Koons's use of homogeneous colours for Michael Jackson's
hair, and the hair of Bubble make them stand out from the base
background. Also, the homogeneous colours against a calming white
base background give Michael Jackson and Bubble an ethereal quality.
Koons's use of gold and white also creates royalty, freedom and
harmony.
His use of gold and white colours throughout the piece and
his use of red colour for the their lips create unity in the artwork.
The flower in the base background also creates royalty and variety
because it is not a part of Michael Jackson and Bubble, who is the
focus. The flower is the only other thing in the artwork besides
Michael Jackson and Bubble which makes the viewer question its
purpose. The placement of Micheal Jackson’s
hair and the curves of the dress of his left arm create a sense of
motion.
Koons’s use of gold colours gives
Michael Jackson and Bubble a modern look. Through his use of colour,
Koon created a different symbol of greatness and freedom for Michael
Jackson instead of the traditional symbol of a music artist. This
greatness and freedom coincides with the role of humanity in modern
society because humans today are taught that they can accomplish
anything and everything by self-discovery.
References
visual-arts-cork.com. 2014. Postmodernist Art: Definition, Characteristics, History. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/postmodernism.htm. [Accessed 19 December 14].
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