The term, postmodernism, refers to art, literature, politics, social philosophy, and other aspects of contemporary society. The American Heritage Dictionary defines postmodernism: “Of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, such as reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or taking modernist styles or practices to extremes.”
Postmodernism often refers to art in which the defining line of painting and sculpture is often blurred. These artists adopt, borrow, steal, recycle, and sample earlier modern and classical works. They combine or alter these images to create new and contemporary pieces. They also work and combine artistic, scientific, technological, media and digital / Internet tools.
While postmodernism and postmodern art have been around for only 50 years, prior to that, creative people lived and worked according to their principles. Two historical artists, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), could be called postmodernists. Da Vinci was a writer, architect, painter, sculptor, botanist, engineer, mathematician, musician, urban planner, set designer, and philosopher. Daguerre was an artist and scientist, known for inventing the daguerreotype process of photography, architect, theater designer, panoramic painter, and inventor of the Diorama.
Steve Furman, creator of the blog, expedientmeans.com, is a contemporary postmodernist. He explains: “My serious interests in art, society, media and technology naturally led me to the web … I write observations on this rapid convergence and invite comments … this weblog … is a useful framework to explain complex designs and interactions, as well as to help understand human behavior. “
He says on his blog, “I have become a postmodernist without even knowing it … Postmodernists look at modernism and say, ‘There is something missing. This could be done more effectively.” A postmodernist recycles, borrows, decompiles, and reconstructs classic modern executions into a postmodern construct that can be more easily understood and consumed. We are obsessed with organizing knowledge and putting it to use in the most functional way possible. Postmodernists postulate that knowledge should be used for doing, not just knowing. “
An article that recently appeared in Jim Benz’s The Examiner says: “Ideally, postmodern art explores everyday and subjective life with whatever criteria, material, or method the artist deems effective. Often times, the material may not exist entirely within the work of art itself, but is composed of the social forces from which the work takes its context, including the role of the viewer, the museum or gallery, the means of production or the specific place of exhibition. “
Postmodern art is breaking new ground while reflecting and organizing our confusing and evolving world. Looking at contemporary art and postmodernism often requires viewers to see beyond their normal perspectives, find new paradigms, and broaden their understanding of the world at large.
Jim Benz adds in his Examiner, “Modernism celebrates the artist’s ability to create deep and timeless meanings through the artwork. Postmodernism works with meanings that emerge not only from the artist but also from the environment of cultural influences embodied in the spectator, through whom the meaning is in a continuous process of recreation “.