CHAPTER 37 SUPPLEMENT

Chapter 37 Supplement
Before continuing with the chapter, please review the page on post-modernism.
Literature

Paz	Ashbery	Allende
Synder	Achebe	Oates

General Background

Postmodernism or Post-Modernism

reaction to the modernist lines of thought

playful: redux or retro
borrows images from history, advertising, and the media
anti-elitist, populist

influenced by the information explosion

tv and news broadcasts

works can be communicated to a vaster audience in shorter period of time

internet

information can be shared globally in less time than any other medium
(combined with random generators): WWW has a haiku site that allows visitors to generate haiku using a random generator program
projects also include composers contributing fragments of compositions for a meta-composition

characteristics of postmodern literature

combining disparate styles in works

references to other cultures and world views

quotes from various works

often contain intertexts (references to other works)

reject traditional style in favor of parodying writing
questions the absolute nature of the meaning of language

we read between the lines
reliance on sound bites or strong visual images

questions the authoritative interpretations of literary works

questions whether a work exists in and of itself, or if the work only exists in its interpretations

sees the role of the author as one who asks questions, not simply to give answers
authors are often self-conscious: address the reader, inject commentary

worlds of author and reader blur

metalanguage: works are often "about" language rather than simply use language to communicate ideas

Octavio Paz
Biography
- 1990 Nobel Prize: abstract of his acceptance speech on communication
"To Talk"
- beginning with a reference to another poem, the poem is about language as well as the human condition of communication
- compares humans (with language) with gods (without language) to illustrate that language is part of the human condition

John Ashbery,
"Paradoxes and Oxymorons"
Background
- also about language, this poem practically reverses the roles of poem/reader (like paradoxes and oxymorons study dichotomies)

Isabel Allende "Two Words"

interview about cultural conflict
magic realism

an example of the multiplicity of post-modern works that often combines what might be incongruous elements

while story studies the nature of language, the awareness of language does not display the importance placed on narrative

Allende follows the style of folk stories
metalanguage focuses on the power of language

importance of words evident from the beginning as the main character changes her name to a different "two words"

Allende reports that the first lines of her work are "dictated" to her, which is similar to "automatic writing"

Gary Synder, "Smokey the Bear Sutra"

his homepage at UCD
as member of "beat" generation
text of poem (with first two lines not in Fiero)
incorporation of Buddhist elements

mudras: hand positions held during meditation, yoga, and Indian classical dance

illustration of the Bhumisparsa Mudra (Buddha calls the Earth to witness his enlightenment)

Synder dedicated himself to a career focusing on environmental issues

parallels Smokey the Bear (commercial symbol of environment) to Buddha (leader to Enlightenment)

plays with words

poem ends with a series of mantras playing on the word "butt"

coming from Smokey, the word connotes cigarettes, which endanger the environment
resets the typical use of the phrase which suggests physical violence against another person

Chinua Achebe, "Dead Man's Path"

multiculturalism

Achebe, growing up in a culture in which Christianity coexisted with native African life, explores the dichotomy between Western and African mores
story investigates tension between young African teacher and his wife who try to impose Western world view in a place where native culture still flourishes

juxtaposes tradition and progress
Obi, the teacher, believes that tradition should be sacrificed for progress
the priest, representing the traditional culture, seeks coexistence

Obi, who was dedicated to doing a good job and getting a good report from the "White supervisor" ironically causes a serious conflict between the school and its community

Joyce Carol Oates, "Ace"

from Assignation: Stories (1988)
illustrates the influence from the journalist tradition

first line is similar to a leading sound bite in a news story

many sentences are short, strong visual images

language is functional: no reference to metalanguage

the style of language used results in an "immediate" presentation of images
although it's an event in the past, most paragraphs begin in the present tense, providing a sense of immediacy

Visual Art
;

Pop Art	Assemblage	Geometric/Op/Min/Neon
New Realism	Social Issues	Architecture
Performance/Computer/Earth

Introduction

postmodernity (a.k.a. "pomo"), technology and art

visual art is obviously influenced by mass media and technology

film
television
computers
Internet

emphasis on process (inherited from abstract expressionism) and medium sometimes at expense of produce and message
features

parody
playfulness
borrowing
reworking "covering" existing images with dispassionate disregard for original meaning
social consciousness
role of artist

pop artists have achieved status in society something like rock stars and actors/actresses
responded to art's new status as a marketable commodity

artists received appreciable sums of money for their work while living

unlike the romantic artist whose work wasn't appreciated or considered valuable until his/her death
artists have managers and agents in the dealers and gallery owners who navigate the commerical world of art for them

Pop Art

term originated in England in the '50s, but bloomed in the US in the '60s

blurs the distinction between high and low art, which had been clearly marked until the end of WW2 (Atkins 168)
describes those works in which artists not only included works from common, everyday life and popular personalities, but glorified them
shifted back from abstraction to almost super-representation, focusing on the images of our daily lives

"What is the appropriate subject for art?"
images however did not exist for the sake of representation, but as "data" to be manipulated

Andy Warhol (1931-87)

orginially trained as a commerical artist
techniques

depersonalized everyday images and personalities by enlarging them or using repetition
in addition to traditional oil on canvas, also used airbrush on silkscreen

blurred the line between fine and applied art

works

Green Coca-Cola Bottles, 1962
Mint Marilyn Monroe, 1962
other works

Jasper Johns (1930-)

techniques

manipulated images of everyday objects to test their status as symbols
art also responded to commerical nature of market (e.g., Painted Bronze)
satirical statement on how art, like everything else on market (like beer), is a marketable commodity

works

Three Flags, 1958
Painted Bronze (Beer Cans), 1960
other works

Claes Oldenburg (1929-, photo)

technique

vinyl sculpture
humor!
everyday objects enlarged 10 to 20 times original size

clothespines, hot dogs, table fans, typewriter erasers, and toilets

what Fiero doesn't tell you is that he "surprises" the viewer

everyday, common objects become larger than life
hard, porcelin objects become soft and with the appearance of melting

works

Soft Toilet, 1966

blurs the line of what's "vulgar" and what's art

other works

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97)

techniques

commercial and comic art
parallels the slick look of commercial advertising

stencil and airbrush (commercial techniques)
Ben Day dots (appropriated from comic books)

instead of everyday objects, chose cliches and stereotypes from comic books

superheroes
helpless women

works

M-Maybe, 1965
other works with Benday dots

Whaam!

works using other techniques

Man With Folded Arms

Assemblage

Rauschenberg

Nevelson

Chamberlain

roots in 3-dimensional works of Picasso and Duchamp
a technique, not a style, involves transformation of nonart objects and materials into sculpture by gluing or welding (Atkins 67)

"found art"
Assemblage with Skateboard

multi-media works assume new messages in the '60s and after

use of nonart objects or even junk from real world gives a disturbing rawness (Atkins 67)

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-, photo)

theme

assemblage meant to incorporate the "excess of the world" into his works

techniques

calls them "combines"
blurs lines between painting and sculpture
wants viewers to reexamine ordinary objects of the world
works in print as well as sculptural modes

works

Buffalo II, 1964

combines cultural debris as equally valuable or worthless

Monogram with Ram, 1955-59
other works

Retroactive I (similar to Buffalo II)
Horsefeathers XII

Louise Nevelson (1900-88), Black Wall, 1959

found art
assembled wooden boxes (as sacred niches) featuring discarded found and machine-made objects
comment on materialist society
other works

Mirror-Shadow VI
Tropical Tree III (at White House)

John Chamberlain (1927-), Debonaire Apache, 1991

comment on dangers of high-tech society
combination of bright colors (attractive to modern consumers) and corrosion with twisted bumpers
other works

String of Pearls/Urban Garlic

Geometric: Op, Minimal, Neon, Kinetic

Following leads of Mondrian, Malevich, van der Rohe in which "less is more" the geometric arm of postmodern art combined desire to explore elemental nature of art with technology

in addition to basic shapes, geometric abstract participants also explored chevrons or triangles

Frank Stella (1936-), Agbatana III, 1968

influenced by protractor (scientific) designs
work is characterized by bright colors, well-defined (or hard) edges

color effect by using flourescent acrylic on canvas

value-neutral: doesn't try to make statements but impersonal explorations of line and color

"What you see is what you see"

op art, or, what you see is how you see

physiology and psychology of seeing (conflicting visual cues and elemental effects of colors and shapes on faculty of sight)
Bridget Riley (1931-), Current, 1964

curvy blank lines on white suggest vibration

elusive color achieved by staring hard at it (Fiero, for example, sees yellow)

other Riley works

Drift 2

other op art works

Bubble Grid

minimalism

elemental, geometric forms of high-tech materials (aluminum, laminated wood, fiberglass, plexiglas, and neon)

momumental in size, usually factory-produced and assembled according to artists' instructions

Donald Judd (1928-94), Untitled, 1973

stainless steel and Plexiglas boxes
look like shelves protruding from wall, but do not function as shelves
visual-spatial rhythm (like op)
other works

Isamu Noguchi (1904-), Cube, 1968

28 feet tall, in front of Marine Midland Bldg, NYC

poised on a corner, emphasizing diagonal line, and suggesting motion
echoes primal and mysterious nature of Eyptian pyramids, jade discs of China...and the monolith in 2001

emphasis on geometric shape

other works

Chryssa (1933-), Fragment for the Gates to Times Square, 1966

soley based on materials from modern electronic technology
incorporates fluorescent lights and neon signs

Total art

Performance Art

Computer Art

Earth Works

more conceptually based than based on traditional artistic practice focusing on form or color
Involves theater and chance (aleatory) in performances that may or may not involve the spectator
Happenings take art to unusual venus: city street, beach, home, studio

questions the location of appropriate venue for art
Fluids, Allan Kaprow (1927-) called for a group of people to build an ice structure on the beach in Pasadena, and then watch the ice melt (perhaps a play on the saying that a town is so boring that people sit around watching the grass grow or the paint dry)

Performance art involves the artist or specified performers

using a nude woman as a paint brush (Yves Klein, Anthropometry)
watching machines self-destruct in pyrotechnic display of fire, smoke (Jean Tinguely)

Computer art: using computer to either create or assimilate and adapt existing works

Charley Murphy, Cover for Utne Reader (1989)

Earth Sculpture or earthworks

assumes landscape as medium and subject
earth works are usually colossal, heroic and temporary
natural deterioration (like the ice melting) is often an "event" in the work
Robert Smithson (1938-75), Spiral Jetty, 1970

in Great Slat Lake of Utah
colossal: over 1500 feet wide, containing over 6000 tons of black basalt, limestone, and earth...materials native to the work's site (color photo from lake POV)
spiral is reference to snail-like symbol of eternity in ancient art; work is reference to ancient Native American earth works in South America
focused attention on ecological balance between culture and nature
natural disintigration by the lake and elements included in the work's existence

best view was from the air (Smithson died in a plane crash while observing it)

views

closeups

aerial
in 1996 (This site contains several "vacation" pictures of Utah. Scroll down for several shots of the work taken from the vantage points of a visitor.)

other works

Asphalt Rundown

Javacheff Christo (1935-), Running Fence, 1972-76

24.5 miles long and 18 feet high: nylon fence
cost 3 million dollars and took a large crew of assistants to assemble it
reference to Great Wall of China
remained onsite for only two weeks (unlike Spiral Jetty)

unlike Jetty, Christo doesn't remake the environment, only temporarily modifies it to dramatize difference between natural and postermodern worlds

views of fence

New Realism

Estes

Hanson

Morimura

background

aka: neo realism, hyperrealism, photorealism (I've also heard superrealism)
technological in conception: stop-action, sharp-focus detail, and immediacy of photographs, but they're usually paintings
contrast between extreme representation and impersonal views of the objects represented

process is more important than image: don't imitate natural phenomena, but recreate artificially processed views of reality

Richard Estes (1936-), Helene's Florist 1971

example of his focus on painted urban still lifes based on fragments of photos he shoots
other works

Chuck Close (1940-), Self-Portrait, 1968

uses an opaque projector to transfer the photographic image to canvas
geometric detail obvious as both photo and canvas resemble graph paper: each square is filled with tiny gradations of color resembling pixels on a TV screen
mug shot is oversized and reinforced by black and white palatte
impersonal
tabloid appearance
other works

Robert/Fingerprint
Roy II

New Realist Sculpture: high-tech materials and techniques result in sculpture amazingly life-like

Duane Hanson (1925-96), Tourists, 1970

fiberglass-reinfoeced polyester resin
focuses on ordinary and often "lower-class" individuals in everyday occupations

social comment as they are referred to as the "living dead"
Camp: pointedly anti-elitist and anti-bourgeois, makes popular images fuel for sophisticated ridicule

other works

Vendor with Walkman (Ft. Lauderdale, FL airport)

Yasumasa Morimura (1945-), Portrait (Twins), 1988

plays on the reclining nude heritage (Titian's Venus of Urbino and Manet's Olympia)

could the images of Olympia and the drag queen be seen as twins?

color photography produced from studio setup
mocks the heritage by transforming Olympia into a drag queen

questions the authority of historical icons

other works

Self Portrait (Actress)/Red Marilyn

Social Consciousness Art

Azaceta

Mengbo

Yanagi

a fully-conscious, socially committed, and "missionary" (as Fiero puts it) treatment of society in art

developing from ancient view that art had power to integrate individual and communal needs, social conscious art seeks to transform society by awakening visonary potential
ecological ruin

disease
nuclear terrorism
marginalized populations
decay in quality of urban life
erosion in moral values

Luis Cruz Azaceta (1942-), Coke Heads VIII, 1991

expressionistic

techniques: surface is splotched, burned, blistered, includes wire and debris
themes: arson, street crime, AIDS, drug addiction, universal social disorder

works on AIDS (Count I and Count III)

AIDS Carrier

Feng Mengbo (1966-), Video End Game Series:RMB, 1993

cynical realism (commercial and academic techniques to raise consciousness about social and political contradictions)
post-Tienanmen (1989)

abandons idealism of the '80s
tries to resolve contradictions in Chinese society between Confucianism and Communism, Chinese holism and Western materialism

borrows video game look to comment on the operas staged by Mao's wife during cultural revolution
suggests that China's future is as variable as a video game (notice the scores at the bottom)

Yukinori Yanagi (1959-), World Ant Farm, 1990

works with elements in nature rather than over them
sand-pour flags that evolve as ants carry bits of same from box to box contained in each flag
functions at micro- and macro-levels

mico-: Japanese theory of symbiosis between nature and culture
macro: the arrangement of flags reflects the global village

other works

Four China

works in progress

Wandering Position (ant trail)

Architecture

Moore

Pei

Gehry

post-modern architects turned back on the severe international style, which said less was more

explored excess, ornamentation, color, fun, individuality
quotes architectural styles from past, and combines them in unexpected manners

Charles Moore (1925-93), Piazza d'Italia (click on "English"), New Orleans, 1976-79

serves as Italian cultural center
combines Pompeii, Palladio, and Italian baroque
adorned with fountains, neon lights, and polished aluminum balustrades (columns)
apron is shaped like Italy

I. M. Pei (1917-), Louvre entranc e, 1988

explores new shapes: geodesic and modular design
combines modern technology (glass, steel, shape) with references to pyramids and geometric designs of 17^th-c landscape artists
the work began a furious debate over the appropriateness of the modern structure against the 18th-c art museum

Frank Gehry (1930-), California Aerospace Museum, LA, 1982

econstructivism (parallels deconstruction in lit, to take apart literary works in search of multiple meanings) refer to the chaotic nature of contemporary life

term coined in the '80s
shapes look as if they cannot function (e.g., leaning columns, skewed interiors)

irreverent, irrational, and unstable, yet is stable
basic materials: plywood, corrugated metal, chainlink fence
other works

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Regional Branch of Hollywood Public Library

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Chapter 37 Supplement Before continuing with the chapter, please review the page on post-modernism. Literature