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 by reintroducing traditional or classical style elements or by taking modernist styles or practices to extremes.”
Postmodernism often refers to art in which the defining line between painting and sculpture is often blurred. These artists adopt, borrow, steal, recycle, and sample from earlier modern and classic 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.
Although postmodernism and postmodern art have been around for only 50 years, before 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 the invention of the daguerreotype process of photography, architect, theater designer, panoramic painter, and inventor of the Diorama.
Steve Furman, creator of the blog, filemeans.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 for explaining complex designs and interactions, as well as helping to understand human behavior.”
He says on his blog, “I have become a postmodernist without even knowing it… Postmodernists look at modernism and say, ‘Something is missing. This could be done more effectively.'” A postmodernist recycles, borrows, decompiles, and rebuilds 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 posit that knowledge should be used for doing, not just knowing.
An article that appeared recently in The Examiner by Jim Benz says: “Ideally, postmodern art explores subjective everyday life using whatever criteria, material, or method the artist finds effective. Often, the material may not exist entirely within the work of art itself, but rather be 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 as it reflects and organizes our confusing and evolving world. Looking at contemporary art and postmodernism often requires viewers to see beyond their normal perspectives, to find new paradigms and broaden their understanding of the world at large.
Jim Benz adds in his Examiner article: “Modernism celebrates the artist’s ability to create deep and timeless meanings through the work of art. Postmodernism works with meanings that arise not only from the artist but also from the medium of cultural influences embodied in the viewer, through whom the meaning is in a continual process of re-creation.