Post Modern Artists

Post Modern Artists

The realm of postmodern art encompasses various aspects of contemporary styles. There is no set format to creating artwork anymore. Art pieces in the past basically conformed to the Kantian-Hegelian theory of art. Thomas McEvilley claim, "It was essentially an aesthetic theory of art, which held Beauty is a universal force that enters the soul with immediate, unquestionable authority at the instant when the soul approaches the beautiful object with openness to it" (qtd. in Weintraub 245). Beauty became an inborn characteristic of art. Pieces of artwork inevitably possessed the quality of beauty, seeking to inspire and touch the soul with powerful, aesthetically pleasing images.

As time continued a change was to be anticipated. McEvilley further explains "The Hegelian element, added about a generation later n the early Romantic period, emphasized the idea of History as a dynamic force, with the conviction that change was a historically necessity leading towards progress" (qtd. in Weintraub 254). The advancement of psychology caused a change in attitude concerning art. Psychology leads to the acknowledgement of problems and struggles to repair them. Around the early 1960's "Pop art, Body art, and other newly named tendencies were the beginning of the phase known as post~Moderism" (qtd. in Weintraub 256). Beauty no longer serves as an inspirational force driving the artist to create a soul touching piece. Instead the search to point out a problem and attempt to remedy it spurs the contemporary artist. The loss of beauty as an inspiration causes the postmodern artists to strive to point out problems, create awareness, and give a possible solution.

The very word n...

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...pathy in the Catholic religion. "Piss Christ" demonstrates the shocking but thought changing power of a contemporary artist. On a whole, art no longer is made on behalf of beauty. Beauty is simply an idea which is subject to change from various perspectives. As Thomas McEvilley claims "Among the major changes of the period in question is a loss of faith in the idea of beauty as a spiritual, universal, and, consequently, a change in the idea of the role of the artist. The artist actually became to be that destroyer of the idea of beauty" (qtd. Weintraub 258). The postmodern artists is asking the needed questions and creating the required answers with the attempt to educate and better the lives of all who care to notice.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Weintraub, Linda. Art on the Edge and Over. Lithfield, CT: Art Insights, Inc. 1998.