Post Modernism

To understand Post Modernism, I have researched what Modernism means.
Modernism refers to the broad movement in Western arts and literature that gathered pace from around 1850, and is characterised by a deliberate rejection of the styles of the past; emphasising instead innovation and experimentation in forms, materials and techniques in order to create artworks that better reflected modern society
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism


Post Modernism

In art, postmodernism was specifically a reaction against modernism which had dominated art theory and practice since the beginning of the twentieth century. The term postmodernism is also widely used to describe challenges and changes to established structures and belief systems that took place in Western society and culture from the 1960s onwards.
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism


Post modernism can be said to have begun with Pop Art in the 1960's, and it also includes feminist art, conceptual art and the Young British Artists of the 1990's. It also ran alongside Abstract Expressionism in America.
Modernism was based on idealism and reason, whereas Post Modernism focusses on complex and contradictory layers of meaning through scepticism. Post Modernism collapsed the divide between art and everyday life, thus introducing a new era of freedom. It challenges the boundaries of taste, which often brings some controversial subjects to the surface of the work.


Artists

Roy Lichtenstein





Whaam!
Acrylic and oil paint on canvas
1727 x 4064 mm
1966


This composition is based on an image from 'All American Men of War' which is published by DC comics. Lichtenstein worked onto comics and advertisements and painted these influences, allowing the viewer to decipher the meaning for themselves. He was involved in Pop Art along with Andy Warhol and Blek le Rat.




Guerilla Girls




Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?
Screen print on paper
280 x 710 mm


This is part of the 'Guerilla girls talk back' collection which is produced by a group of anonymous female artists that expose sexual and racial discrimination, especially in New York. This group portray their messages in a quick, accessible way by using the visual language of advertising. Another artist, Barbara Kruger uses this technique too, both if them producing feminist art.