ATH435
ART AND DESIGN HISTORY AND THEORY
LECTURE #7
POSTMODERN AND
CONTEMPORARY ART
Postmodernism
• A late 20th-century movement characterized
by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or
relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and
an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in
asserting and maintaining political and
economic power. http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1077292/postmodernism
Postmodernism - DEFINITION
Postmodernism is indefinable is a truism.
However, it can be described as a set of
critical, strategic and rhetorical practices
employing concepts such as difference,
repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and
hyper reality to destabilize other concepts
such as presence, identity, historical
progress, epistemic certainty, and the
univocity of meaning.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/
The term “postmodern”
• The term “postmodern” came into the
philosophical lexicon with the publication of
Jean-François Lyotard's La Condition
Postmoderne in 1979 (English: The Postmodern
Condition: A Report on Knowledge, 1984), where
he employs Wittgenstein's model of language
games (see Wittgenstein 1953) and concepts
taken from speech act theory to account for what
he calls a transformation of the game rules for
science, art, and literature since the end of the
nineteenth century http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/
Jean-François Lyotard's definition of
Postmodernism.
• Modernity is defined as the age of metanarrative
legitimation, and postmodernity as the age in
which metanarratives have become bankrupt.
Through his theory of the end of metanarratives,
Lyotard develops his own version of what tends to
be a consensus among theorists of the
postmodern – postmodernity as an age of
fragmentation http://www.iep.utm.edu/lyotard/#H4
Constructive and Deconstructive Post
Modernism
Witcombe cited in http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/modpostmod.html
• Deconstructive postmodernism is
seen perhaps as anti-modern in that it • Constructive
seems to destroy or eliminate the postmodernism does not reject
ingredients that are believed Modernism, but seeks to revise its premises
necessary for a worldview, such as and traditional concepts.
God, self, purpose, meaning, a real • Constructive postmodernism claims to offer a
new unity of scientific, ethical, aesthetic, and
world, and truth. (This point of view, religious intuitions. It rejects not science as
though, that we need a worldview such, but only that scientific approach in which
comprised of notions of God, self, only the data of the modern natural sciences
purpose, etc, is itself a modernist are allowed to contribute to the construction of
one.) our worldview.
• Constructive postmodernism desires a return
• Deconstructive postmodern thought to premodern notions of divinely wrought
is seen by some as nihilistic, (i.e. the reality, of cosmic meaning, and an enchanted
view that all values are baseless, that nature. It also wishes to include an acceptance
nothing is knowable or can be of nonsensory perception.
communicated, and that life itself is • Constructive postmodernism wants to replace
modernism and modernity, which it sees as
meaningless). threatening the very survival of life on the
planet.
• Aspects of constructive postmodernism will
appear similar to what is also called "New Age"
thinking.
POSTMODERNISM – overall concept
• purity of form and technique, and aimed to eradicate the
divisions between art, popular culture, and the media.
• Postmodern artists employed influences from an array of
past movements, applying them to modern forms.
• Postmodernists embraced diversity and rejected the
distinction between "high" and "low" art.
• Ignoring genre boundaries, the movement encourages the
mix of ideas, medias, and forms to promote parody, humor,
and irony. http://wwar.com/masters/movements/postmodernism.html
FORERUNNER OF POSTMODERNISM
IN ART
FOUNTAIN 1917
Marcel Duchamp’s
readymade object is often seen as
a forerunner of postmodern art.
Turquoise Marilyn
1962
Andy Warhol extended the concept
with his appropriation of common
popular symbols and
"ready-made" cultural artifacts,
bringing the previously mundane or
trivial onto the previously hallowed
ground of high art.
The readymade of Marcel Duchamp
• are ordinary manufactured objects that he selected
then sometimes modified, as an antidote to "retinal
art". By choosing the object, giving it a title and
signing it, the object became the work of the artist.
• Of the readymades Duchamp said "The curious thing
about the readymade is that I've never been able to
arrive at a definition or explanation that fully
satisfies me."
ORIGIN OF POSTMODERNISM
MARCEL DUCHAMP
[1887-1968]
CUBO-FUTIRIST, DADAIST
READYMADE OBJECT
(DADA)
Bicycle Wheel 1913
In 1913 I had the happy idea to fasten a bicycle
wheel
Bicycleto a kitchen
wheel stool
mounted onand watchstool
a painted it turn.-
Duchamp, 1961
Theory of Marcel Duchamp
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.
Marcel Duchamp, from Session on the Creative Act, Convention of the American Federation
of Arts, Houston, Texas, April 1957.
CONCEPT OF READYMADE OBJECT
THE ‘IDEA’
New thought for an object
To commercialize and denounce
the status of the artist/artwork
as superhuman/genius
THE ‘ACT’
Pure action-mental exercise
Visual indifference- anaesthesia. Not for or anti - art
Selection based on chance operation – rendezvous
Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon,
1959, Combine Painting
Rauschenberg's
combine painting
“Winter Pool,” from 1959.
Blurring the distinction between art and life
- Rauschenberg
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT [American]
1960 – 1988
post colonialism
neo expressionist
Post modern
Born in Brooklyn,NY
Self-taught artist
Presented a vision of a fragmented self in search of
an organizing principle
NY challenge: can you transform self and heritage
into something new and named?
Untitled (Quality), 1983
Oil paintstick and ink on paper, 19.5x15.5 inches
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from Mrs. William A. Marsteller,
Untitled, 1984
Acrylic, oil paintstick, and silkscreen on canvas,
88x77 inches
Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat; courtesy
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Untitled (Skull), 1981
by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Neo-Expressionism
• Neo-Expressionism, diverse art movement (chiefly of
painters) that dominated the art market in Europe and
the United States during the early and mid-1980s.
Neo-Expressionism comprised a varied assemblage of
young artists who had returned to portraying the
human body and other recognizable objects, in
reaction to the remote, introverted, highly
intellectualized abstract art production of the 1970s.
The movement was linked to and in part generated by
new and aggressive methods of salesmanship, media
promotion, and marketing on the part of dealers and
galleries http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/408655/Neo-Expressionism
TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY ART
• INDEFINABILITY
• POST ART
• ISSUES THAT EFFECT THE WORLD
• CROSSES THE BOUNDARY OF MEDIUM AND
METHODOLOGY
• MULTI DISCIPLINARY DISCOURSE
GERMANY
Anselm Kiefer
was born on March 8, 1945, in
Donaueschingen. He is a German
painter and sculptor. He studied with
Joseph Beuys during the 1970s. His
works incorporate materials such as
straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The
poems of Paul Celan have played a
role in developing Kiefer's themes of
German history and the horror of the
Holocaust, as have the theological
concepts of Kabbalah.
Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951)
is an American artist and filmmaker. He
won a Golden Globe, as well as BAFTA,
César Award, Golden Palm and two
nominations for the Golden Lion and an
Academy Award nomination. He
directed Before Night Falls, which
became Javier Bardem's breakthrough
Academy Award nominated role and the
four-time Academy Award nominated
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. His
latest film Miral was shot in Jerusalem in
2009.
“Painting is like breathing to me. It’s what I do
all the time. Every day I make art, whether it
is painting, writing or making a movie”
Julian Schnabel
Untitled, 1981
Oil on velvet and rug
pad
96 x 132 in. (243.8 x
335.3 cm)
The Museum of
Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles.
Detail of painting
left: Divan, 1979 Detail of painting
oil, plates and bondo on wood
right: The Sea, 1981
96x96x12 in.
oil, Mexican pots and bondo on wood
9x13 ft.
JULIAN SHNABEL’S BROKEN PLATE PAINTING
•ELECTRONIC MUSIC
•MULTIMEDIA ART
•VIDEO ART [1960’s]
Nam June Paik
[1932 – 2006],
Korean born American artist -
composer, performer, and video
artist. Nam June Paik, long
considered the pioneer of
Using video for artistic video art, uses the medium
expression. His works explore to express the complexities
the ways in which performance, of contemporary culture.
music, video images, and the Inspired by both the spirit
sculptural form of objects can of Zen and the
be used in various combinations ever-changing dynamics of
to question our accepted American society
notions of the nature of
television.
EXPLORATION of sound, computers and lasers.
Fluxus
A happening involves
Conceptual art • a performance,
HAPPENING • event or situation
• multi-disciplinary,
[1960’s] • nonlinear narrative
• active participation of the audience.
or PERFORMANCE • improvisation
• eliminates the boundary between the
ART The term describes an art artwork and its viewer.
that is live but operates outside the • the audience, in a sense, part of the art.
traditional conventions of theatre or Happenings take place anywhere (from
music. basements to studio lofts and even street
Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Dennis alley ways),
Oppenheim, Yoko Ono, Nam June Allan Kaprow first coined the term
Paik, Meredith Monk, and Laurie happening in the Spring of 1957 at an art
Anderson. picnic at George Segal's farm to describe
the art pieces that were going on
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Happening+m
ovement
Digital art is an umbrella term for a range of
artistic works and practices that utilize digital technology.
Since the 1970s various names have been used to describe
what is now called digital art including computer art and
multimedia art but digital art is itself placed under the larger
umbrella term new media art
picture source
[digitalart.org]
Lillian
Schwartz's Comparison of
Leonardo's self portrait and
the Mona Lisa based on
Schwartz's Mona Leo. An
example of a collage of
digitally
manipulated photographs
GRAFFITI ART [from
late 60’s until present day]
Political statement
Territorial marking [gang signal]
Vandalism
Sexual/love statement
Hip-hop underground music/culture
Ghetto expression
Types of graffiti
1 individual marking
2 tag
3 graffiti art
CONCLUSION
CLASSICAL prior to 20th century
MODERN 20th century onwards
POSTMODERN 60’s onwards
PLURALIST late 20th cent. onwards
Modern
Malaysian
artists
Modern Malaysian art started in the 30’s with Penang water colourists like
Abdullah Ariff and Yong Mun Sen. Art societies include;
INFLUENCE OF Penang Impressionist
EXPRESSIONISM Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936
AND ABSTRACT Penang Art Teachers' Council
The style of the time: English water colour and Chinese brush painting
EXPRESSIONISM IN
MALAYSIA NANYANG ARTIST (The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) opened its doors in
1938, in Singapore)
Important artists include Cheong Soo Pieng and Khoo Sui Hoe
Chinese + Parisian style with local subject matter.
WEDNESDAY Art Group (formed in 1952 by Peter Harris) – Malaysian artists trained
in England, USA, European countries, China etc. Artists include Patrick Ng Kah Onn,
Dzulkifli Buyong, Cheong Lai Tong as well as Syed Ahmad Jamal.
Practitioners of Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism enlivened the Merdeka spirit
Abstract Artist Syed Ahmad Jamal, Cheong Lai Tong, Latiff Mohidin
Syed Ahmad Jamal’s works include Umpan (Bait) 1959 and Harapan (1962)
Expressionistic art Cheong Lai Tong’s works include 31 Ogos 1957 (1961), Malam Kemerdekaan (62)
such as Latiff Latif Mohidin’s Pago-pago Series
Mohidin, Syed
Young Abstract expressionist – Yusof Ghani,
Ahmad Jamal and Yusuf Ghani’s Siri Tari, Topeng, Wayang, Hijau, Bereng, Ombak, Segerak etc.
Yeoh Jin Leng were Suzlee Ibrahim – Movement series and Monsoon series
the pioneers of
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM had a great and lasting impact in Malaysian art.
modern art in
Malaysia
born in Penang in 1904. He was
a self-taught artist and was an
art teacher at the Anglo-Chinese
School,Penang (presently
known as Methodist Boy's
Abdullah Ariff [Penang watercolorist] School) In 1954, he held
The Rich Land one-man shows at North
Watercolour on paper Carolina, and the Mint Museum
1960 of Art at Charlotte, New York,
U.S.A. In 1955, he participated in
Abdullah Ariff [1904 -1962] was acknowledged with Yong the "United Society of Artists"
Mun Sen, as a pioneer of watercolour painting in Malaysia. group exhibition at the galleries
of the Royal Society of British
Artists, London. There, he was
elected to Fellowship of the
Royal Society of Art (F.R.S.A.)
England..
Source
:http://www.penang-artists.com/
Cheong Soo Pieng [NANYANG ARTIST]
Tropical Life" Painted in the style of
1959 Gauguin. Every activity takes
place within an area
separated by the vertical lines
http://goodenei.com/category/e794bbe99b86e4bb8be7bb8d.aspx
of the tree trunk
PAUL GAUGUIN June 1848 – 8 May 1903
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
1897, oil on canvas
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
Cheong Soo Pieng [NANYANG ARTIST]
FACES OF MALAYSIAN
PIONEERING ARTISTS
Peter Harris
Abdul Latiff bin Haji
Mohidin
Yeoh Jin Leng
Dato’ Syed Ahmad Jamal
Allahyarham Datuk Syed
Ahmad Jamal (SENIMAN
NEGARA)
Date of birth : 19 September 1929
Place of birth : Bandar Maharani, Muar, Johor Darul Takzim
Res. address : Lot 1025, 12.5km
Sungai Cincin
53100 Gombak, Selangor
AWARDS
Sultan Ibrahim Studentship Fund 1950 -1956
- Indian Council for Cultural Relation 1962
- United States Department Award 1963 -1964
Diploma in Art (Chelsea) 1955 - Ahli Mangku Negara 1969
- Alliance Francaise Medallion 1970
- National Diploma in Design (UK) - East-West Centre Award 1973 -1974
- Kesatria Mangku Negara 1983
1955 - Australian Cultural Award 1984
- Art Teacher's Certificate (Lond.) - ASEAN Cultural Award (Visual Art) 1987
1956
- M.A (Hawaii)
1974
Syed Ahmad Jamal is
considered as the
pioneer of Abstract
Expressionisme in
Malaysia. The Merdeka
spirit was enlivened by
the introduction of
new idiom and
medium from the west
Syed Ahmad Jamal
"The Bait“
oil
1959
SYED AHMAD JAMAL
Harapan
Oil
1962
The abstraction of form and
colour presented through a
display of great energy and
spontaneity has made this
work an important
landmark in Malaysian
Modern art .
Latiff Mohidin [Abdul Latiff bin Haji Mohidin]
Born on 25 August 1941 in Negeri Sembilan,
Latiff Mohidin was educated at Lenggeng,
Seremban, Singapore, and the University of
Fine Arts in Berlin. This poet and artist has
held exhibitions of his works and travelled
abroad extensively in the 1960s and 1970s. He
has served as Writer in Residence at the
Science University of Malaysia, Penang, the
National University of Malaysia and Dewan
Bahasa dan Pustaka. At present, Latiff is a
freelance poet and artist. His poems have won
the Putra I poetry Award. Among his books
are: Sungai Mekong (1972), Kembara Malam
(1974), and Wayang Pak Dalang (1977). Garis:
Dari Titik ke Titik (1988), a book on the
creative process (art and poetry), won the
Honourable Diploma Prize at the Festival of
International Books at Leipzig, Germany in
1989.
Trained in Germany
Influenced by German Expressionism.
Iconography from Malay Archipelago and
Indochina region
‘Pago Pago’ is named after the architecture
of ‘pagoda’
Latiff Mohidin studied the relationship
between the shapes of nature such as leaves
and the architectural forms of Southeast
Asia’s great monuments such as Angkor Wat.
Painted in vibrant colours with the sun in the
background – one of the main features of the
work is the evocation of historical essences
and primitive energies which were amongst
the main features of his ‘Pago Pago’ series.
ABDUL LATIFF MOHIDIN Latiff Mohidin is regarded as Malaysia’s
(b.Malaysia 1938) foremost contemporary artist.
Pago-Pago
1964
oil on canvas
100 x 75 cm
CHEONG LAI TONG
Malaysia Merdeka
1962
Oil on canvas
Size: 28x36" s
Collection- USM gallery
The mood of Merdeka is portrayed
in a strong contrasting schemes of
red and black.
YEOH JIN LENG
1952 joined the Malayan Teachers' Training
College, Kirkby, Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
First federal scholarship to further his art studies
at the Chelsea School of Art and also the Institute
of Education, University of London.
He was a full-time lecturer at the Specialist
Teachers' Training Institute, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
for 20 years until 1983.
Born: 1929. He joined the Malaysian Institute of Art (MIA) in
1984 and became Dean of Studies in 1985
1994 – full time artist
He became a member of the Board of Trustees of
the National Art
Yeoh Jin Leng
Rice Fields, Trengganu
1963
YUSOF GHANI 1980 - Met Walter Kravitz, a professor in
painting at George Mason University. Yusof
became interested in fine art and started
taking elective courses in painting. Awarded
the Dr. Burt Amanda Scholarship.
1981 - Took several advanced painting studies
under the guidance of Walter Kravitz. Also
YUSOF’S visited artists' studios in New York. Received
the "Most Creative Award" for his art project
FORMAL
at the university. Graduated with a Bachelor
FORMAL EDUCATION
EDUCATION in Fine Art (Graphic Art) degree.
1982 - Continued with his post graduate
studies in fine art at the Catholic University in
Washington, D.C. where he met Tom
Nakashima, a professor in painting.
Nakashima taught Yusof the finer points of
r painting. Obtained his Master in Fine Art
h o
o degree the following year. Involved with a
n,J group of radical artists and participated in
t ia
n several protest art exhibitions. Among them
: Po was a group protest show called "American
0
5 t h
19 f bir Intervention in Nicaragua & El Salvador" at
orn e o Gallerie Intae in Washington, D.C.
B ac
Pl
"The tari or dance is a symbol that I used to depict
Tari (DANCE) series human behaviors. Life is sometimes like dancing - we
move about with no purpose but we get lots of
pleasure out of it." - Yusof Ghani
http://www.yusofghani.com/ygss_tari2.html
Siri Tari VII (1984)
Oil on Canvas
64 X 102"
Collection: Private
Collection, Kuala
Lumpur
“Topeng (Mask) is basically expressions of
faces. There are no nice images in it. It's
executed as such to portray my message
across." - Yusof Ghani
Siri Topeng I
(1992)
Mixed media on
Canvas (12
panels)
61 X 73"
Collection:
GaleriCitra,
Kuala Lumpur
Jalaini Abu Hassan or “Jai”
• born in Selangor, Malaysia in 1963
• found his artistic vocation early in
life, around the age of seven, and to
this day his work carries a sense of
immediacy, a love of shapes and
familiar objects engendered in those
childhood years.
• In 1985 he took his BA in Fine Art at
MARA Institute of Technology, and
was awarded a Malaysian Federal
Scholarship to continue his studies in
the UK. In 1988, he gained his MA
from the prestigious Slade School in
London.
• Awarded a MARA Scholarship to
study in the USA, he then took his
Master of Fine Art degree at New
York's famous Pratt Institute,
graduating in 1994.
www.artsasia.com.my
JALAINI ABU HASSAN
TOK BOMOH
MANTERA SERIES 2004
….with a rare commitment
to drawing and painting,
and the potential of its raw
materials, constantly
pushing the formal and
technical possibilities of
both traditional and
experimental media.
SUZLEE
IBRAHIM
“In 1993, I first lectured in MARA University of Technology, at
the Faculty of Art and Design (Foundation Course), with
emphasis on the topic Element and Principle of Design. Within
the duration as a lecturer, I managed to do some research in
my spare time to acquire in-depth knowledge and
understanding about the topic mentioned above. I discovered
that MOVEMENT was not only interesting, but is also an
essential element in any artwork. After 2 years of research, in
HIGHGROVE, Acrylic & oil on canvas, 1995, I finally developed the MOVEMENT SERIES, and it is
2000
continuously perfected to date.
From my point of view, Movement is Life, every living thing
moves.”
Suzlee Ibrahim
(Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA)
http://suzlee88.tripod.com/
Title: IKA, Acrylic & Oil on canvas, 2000
conclusion
• Abstract Expressionism was an important movement in the
Pre and Post Merdeka period.
• It has supplied 20th century Malaysian artists with the concept
and rich formalistic aspects and creative process
• It has stood the test of time : It has the lasting effect of
influencing the young artists of the 21st century
• Through Abstract Expressionism, Dato Syed Ahmad Jamal had
won the recognition of the public as the SENIMAN NEGARA
