Postmodernism

A. Postmodern Art is an art movement that is the aftermath of Modernism, it emerged from this movement but keeps a lot of the same ideas. Just like the earlier era Postmodern Art doesn't have to have subject matter, or be "beautiful." Postmodernism can actually be rather controversial, a couple popular subjects with Postmodern artists are feminism and race.

B. Unlike some other movements in art history, Postmodernism art tends to be based on the  "uneasy" subjects in our country. Feminism is just one of them. Feminism has always been a problem somewhere. In the 1970's this was a huge problem in the art world. Women were not artists they were the models. In the book it talks a lot about "the male gaze", the way men viewed women. They saw females as sex symbols and had a tendency to use the nude body as satisfaction in their artwork.

C. Paul McCarthy has in my opinion the most shocking pieces of work in Postmodern history. I suppose that is what makes the work so popular with viewers, it definitely falls under the category of Postmodern art. McCarthy did most of his work on the dark parts of America, child abuse, insanity, rape and pornography were his favorites. He also did all of his artwork with everyday condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and chocolate sauce. They were  used for blood, sweat, sperm and feces. Not only did this work turn heads but it also crinkled many noses with the disgusting smell that arose from this work.

D. Melinda Barnes has a drawing that is quite a bit like the one I am doing for this project. It is an image of a house sitting alone. For mine I am doing a barn with a tree on one side and a windmill on the other. Her picture is very simple yet beautiful which is my goal for my project. She also says it has a comic art style not necessarily a realistic look on it just like how mine will be.

Formalism

a. Formalism is the theory of art that doesn't have to have a reason, it is simply art to be art. It isn't made to give the audience a certain feeling or that is meant to please the audience. It is visually appealing to some and hideous to others. It is generally non-objective but it doesn't have to be and uses line, shape, and color. 

b. Wassily Kandinsky's work fits the description of Formalism very well. He uses the difference in line, shape and color to make the art compositionally successful. Some of his stuff is abstract and others clearly have an objective such as the painting with the landscape of the house. His work in my opinion lets the viewer use their imagination to form an opinion about the composition in front of them. You can look at his work for a minute or you can sit there for 20-30 finding new objects peeking through the art. 

c. Piet Mondrain's work fits into this category, it is obvious that line and color alone make this work "artwork." I really like the picture of the Nike shoes because they go along with his theme of using primary colors but everyone, any age can recognize the Nike symbol on the side of the shoe. This one isn't quite as easy to sit and imagine different shapes and objects but still just as visually appealing as Kandinsky's art.

d. I chose Chris Burnside because our ideas are a lot alike. They are both abstract compositions of colorful random swirly lines. He enjoys how partial circles are made and that is exactly what my drawing is made up of, different circles and partial circles depending on where the line goes next. Our mediums are different though. He likes to use wood and acrylic where as I used paper, highlighter pens, pencil and colored pencil.