CONTEMPORARY ART AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ITS AUDIENCE AND SOCIETY.   Term Paper ID:30046 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses the arts since 1945. Wide-ranging styles of artists. Innovative and creative breakthroughs. Emergence of concept of social relativity and a pluralistic society. How the Postmodern world and plurality have redefined the role of the artist. Pluralism of art styles reflecting society. The New Realism as a cumulative creative systhesis. The pluralistic way contemporary artists engage in with their audience. Paper Introduction: CONTEMPORARY ART AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ITS AUDIENCE AND SOCIETY The picture of the arts since 1945 is extremely complex with trends toward fragmentation on one the side and multimedia unifications on the other. Radical changes have come about in science, technology, politics, economics, and the arts. Social relativity and the pluralistic society are replacing absolute values and uniformity; and artists are working in styles that vary from wide-ranging freedom to strict formalism, from imaginative abstraction to stark realism, from detached objectivity to passionate expressionistic involvement. All this has shown that no one approach, solution, attitude, technique, or Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. If there is one thingthat postmodernism has shown us (as a contemporary mode of thought) - thereis no one authorized, canonized, one-size-fits-all definition of an artist.An artist is many things, and many other things determine each of thesethings: the self, the audience, history, society, criticism, and economics.To seek to define to an "artist" is to fall into the bottomless pit ofunending referentiality: "The anxiety of late capitalist culture is in usin the futility we find in moralizing as a way of determining what's goodor bad" (Wood, p. The postmodern world has also shaped the artistic endeavor greatly andredefined the role of the artist. The artist can become god or beast, Prometheus or Lucifer, or s/he canchoose to do something or nothing at all. The newis also the old, and the old ever new. Social relativity and the pluralistic society arereplacing absolute values and uniformity; and artists are working in stylesthat vary from wide-ranging freedom to strict formalism, from imaginativeabstraction to stark realism, from detached objectivity to passionateexpressionistic involvement. Why not just consider art as astrategy of the imagination, as the inspiration or fantasy, or even a pipedream? 64.[4] Wood, pp. The market is in fact an oriental bazaar where each voice is heard,and each product attracts its own customers.[17] Further, as to thequestion whether contemporary art can still shock -- that it certainly can,for if one of the agendas of art is to express the chaos that is within usand around us, then ability to shock is limitless. Modernism in Dispute. The value ofdrawing and draftsmanship, description of the objective world, the power ofthe human figure, a sense of spirituality are now being reborn andreassessed and re-expressed. Again, the answer lies in the heteroglossiaof postmodernism. Over the years the violentsocial protests, the unpredictable multimedia happenings and events, theshock techniques of absurdism, and extremism in all its forms -- all havebecome muted. What is relevant for the contemporary audience and the artist is thegreat growth of knowledge about past and present, plus the easy access tothe vast body of literature, art, and music across the ages. These choices range from the traditional to the experimental, from themanipulation of structure to chance and random happenings, from logical andcyclical wholes to fragmented reflections of a broken and distortedworld.[8] More concretely, they range from the extreme realism toelectronic collages, from the revival of ancient medias such as mosaics andfrescoes to exploring Plexiglas and plastic fantasies, from staticsculptures that rest securely on pedestals to mobiles and kinetic art inmechanical motion, from works in a single medium to multimedia mixtures ofall the arts.[9] For example, there is Edward Kienholz's The Portable WarMemorial from 1968[1 ] that captures the essence of romanticized Americanculture in the 196 s (fast food, clean dating, family values), which inturns becomes wry commentary on the horrors of the Vietnam War - theaggressive exportation of these romanticized values. (1975;1999). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Wolfe, Tom. Therefore, the artist can follow arange of styles and "schools" to achieve expression. Other constants in the history of art,however, are now being re-discovered and brought into balance. There is no canonized,authorized audience, just as there is no constituted and predeterminedmarket. In the plurality that is the contemporaryarts scene, when artists work for themselves, they are working for thepublic and vice versa. Whose Art Is It? (1994). New York: Harry N.Abrams, pp. BIBLIOGRAPHYCrow, Thomas. CONTEMPORARY ART AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ITS AUDIENCE AND SOCIETY The picture of the arts since 1945 is extremely complex with trendstoward fragmentation on one the side and multimedia unifications on theother. After the Second World War, western society overcame its stratifiedstructure of absolutes; and for art this meant that the entire idea of theimportance of a piece of art was called into question.[1] What had "public"value and what did not? 56.[12] Wood, pp. 1 .[9] Crow, pp. New York: Bantam Books. All those who share in thatparticular mode of expression are the audience. 249.[17] Tom Wolfe addresses the question of reception. (1993). New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. ThePainted Word. 125ff.[1 ] Crow, pp. 243). What hasemerged is a pluralism of art styles, co-existing side by side, as areflection of the pluralistic society of the present day. Thus in the contemporary, pluralistic world,all kinds of approaches to art have been once more found space to co-exist.[15] For example, we can see that in Anselm Kiefer's Sulamit(Shulamite), 1983, we see a contemporary mosaic made from oil, acrylic,emulsion, shellac and straw on canvas.[16] At the same time, the image isnot an abstraction but a realistic painting of a Nazi burial vault for deadsoldiers. After so many revolutionary departures and creativebreakthroughs, the new millennium has become a time when restlessexperimentation has yielded to consolidation and reassessment. (1994). Andif reception of a piece of art is determined by its worth (its salability),then his argument is no more than a critique of the mode of production, andnot art, even though he has a tendency to generalize by way of theparticular. Thus artists are coming to terms oncemore with the external world, and breaking away from the existentialconcerns that informed most of modernist art.[11] This is evidenced in thenew realism and its reassessment of the integrity of the object and theexpressivity of the human figure. Today, no painter of whatever persuasion could possiblyapproach a canvas as if cubism and abstract expressionism had neverhappened. 69-76.[15] Art is no longer mere representation, but also a form of socialcritique. 152-153.[11] Wood, p. The Painted Word. As a mode of postmodern expression, art is also the tool wherebycultural difference is explored and race, gender, and class described. In fact the entire set of questions addressed in the conclusion arebased upon an erroneous sense of what an artist is. Art Since the Forties. (1996). 53-54.[5] Wood, 2 3.[6] Thomas Crow. Whose Art Is It? The human touch, the power of personal expression,and a rediscovery of the many worlds of fantasy are all facets of the newexpressionism. 59ff.[7] Crow, 77.[8] Wood, p. It includes the sophistications of cubism,real, reflected and illusionistic space -- as well as virtuosity.[12] Thereis also the new emphasis on individuality as an affirmation of the socialpluralism of our time. 42.[2] Wood, p. Abrams.Kramer, Jane. In the past,expression was uniquely linked to style. So with thevast media at their command, with the tremendous extension in the span ofhuman experience, with so many levels of taste and frames of reference, theartist and the audience have an unlimited number of choices.[6] Forexample, Betye Saar in her mixed assemblage work, Omen from 1967 gives us acollection of cult objects, images and significations that precisely definethe otherworldly.[7] This sort of assemblage is not possible if atranshistorical view is utterly lacking. (1996). But in Kiefer's work, this vault has become an evocative memorialto the Jewish dead. Radical changes have come about in science, technology, politics,economics, and the arts. Within this context of pluralism, we shall examine the questions ofcontemporary art and society, contemporary art and its audience, andcontemporary art and the artist. (1975;1999). Also, theseconventions, or their breakage, depend upon the audience and how they willreceive the images presented to them by the artist. Ideas such as beauty and harmony are at play in his argument; buthe fails to tell us whose ideas of beauty and harmony we are to follow. 1-6.[16] Wood, p. New York: Bantam Books.Wood, Paul, Frascina, Francis, Harris, Jonathan, Harrison, Charles. What else is a happening except something that is experienced -- andthen ceases to exist.[4] This view is expressed in the sculptures ofRichard Long, especially his A Line Made by Walking (1967) and Turf Circle(1966).[5] Both these works are temporary "impressions" (for lack of abetter word) upon nature: meadow grass or turf is pressed into a shape.Thus these sculptures become part of nature, following its cycle ofcreation and destruction. It is up to the public whether they wish to includethe work of a particular artist into their own vision of the world or not. Consequently, do artists seek tobreak conventions or meet them? The artist, therefore, expressesthe human experience in a multitude of frames of reference - without onecanonizing one as the "correct" way or style. The Rise of the Sixties. In the true spirit of postmodernism, thismovement is not so much a revival of an age-old tradition as it is acumulative creative synthesis. Plurality has meant a variety ofstyles for a variety of expressions - artists have many voices, manypersonas (as do we all), and not just one. However, the fallacy that Wolfe fallsinto is that there is a universality of artistic expression which art mustaddress. This painting could not have existed without theassemblage of history and mixed media. Is it still possible? For example, an artistmay both break conventions and meet them in the same piece of work. Speaking from the pointof plurality, there is far more scope for innovation, given the fact thatthe outlines of the past, present, and future have become blurred. 237ff.[13] Wood, p.2 8.[14] Crow, pp. Durham, NC: Duke University, pp. Many tendencies and innovations have been bypassed ordiscarded, while others have quietly been absorbed into contemporarypractice. Ultimately, then, for whom are artists working? What about innovation? Its audience does notdefine the task of the artist. Conventions can still be broken or met, depending on thevoice and mode of expression that the artist seeks. All this has shown that no one approach, solution, attitude,technique, or mode of thought is ever final. This plurality, of course, does not mean that there is a return to thepremodern past. Thus, for example, Mel Ramsden's Secret Painting, 1967-1968shows a black square.[13] The text to the side informs us that the paintingis a secret known only to the artist. 58.[3] Wood, p. SeeJane Kramer. Therefore, postmodernism is an umbrella term covering the rangeof art produced by and addressed to the present-day pluralisticsociety.[14] Abstraction is still with us, as it has been perhaps from thebeginning of creative endeavor. The Rise of Sixties. New York: Harry N. (1993).Modernism in Dispute. In conclusion, this brief excursion into the nature of contemporaryart has shown us that artists engage with their audience in a pluralisticway. This led to the breakdown of the critical standardsof classical craftsmanship and excellence and also the fragmentation anddisintegration of traditional forms.[2] Since there was no longer anabsolute system of judging the worth or value of art, artist felt that theywere creating only for the moment rather than for the future, and a senseof absurdity and futility pervaded their works.[3] Ultimately if nothing isgoing to last, why bother to create it? As to the question of the reception of contemporary art (for whom isart created?), plurality shows us that the target audience is the artist,the critic, the general public and the market, for there is no trueseparation from the creative point of view. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.-----------------------[1] See Paul Wood, Francis Frascina, Jonathan Harris, Charles. This heightens the individuality ofthe artist, emphasizing his/her unique link with, and separation from, thepiece of art. 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