Chapter 31 Contemporary Art Worldwide The End of the Century: A Messy Ride

The final 30 years of the 20th century saw artistic expression taking ever more diverse forms. • difficult to identify movements clearly, as artists feel free to move from one form of expression to another. • sometimes difficult to identify the art per se, as post- modernism sometimes meant that the artistic creation ppyrocess led to art that existed only for a brief moment in time… Kruger’s work often combines text and image in an ironic fashion.

•Many artists who have embraced the postmodern •They were interested in investigggating the dynamics of power and privilege •They focused on issues of gender and sexuality in the contemporary world. Untitled (We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard) •Kruger’s works frequently involve criticism of the habits imposed on women by society, and of the negative impact of men running the world… her work evolved from being specifically feminist to being critical of society’s norms in all areas •Artist began as a graphic designer for Mademoiselle magazine •Words placed in large photos as de ign e lements, an d to hig hlig ht a message •Artistic message often relies on irony BARBARA KRUGER, Your gaze hits the side of my face Social Art: Race, Ethnicity, and National Iden ti ty Faith Ringgold, Who’s Afraid Melvin Edwards, Tambo, 1993 of Aunt Jemima? 1983

•It is a quilt, a medium that is associated with women •Welded sculpture of chains, spikes, knife •Tribute to her mother but also blades, and other found objects that allude addresses African American culture to the lynching of African Americans and and the struggles of women to the continuing struggle for civil rights and overcome oppression an end to racism. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 - 1987) •Basquiat was from a Haitian-Puerto Rican - American background, and began his artistic Horn Players, efforts early as a graffiti 1983 artist, although he quickly shifted over to canvas •Tribute to two African American musicians •Bold colors, fractured figures, and graffiti to capture the dynamic rhythms of jazz and the excitement of New York.

Untitled, 1985 Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Skull), 1981 • gestural painting on canvas • most often depicting skeletal figures and mask- like faces that expressed his obsession with mortality • imagery derived from his street existence, such as automobiles, buildings, police, children's sidewalk, games and graffiti. In 1983, Basquiat befriended Andy Warhol and the two made a number of collaborative works. Often, they discussed and disputed about African- American art and literature. They also painted together, influencing each others' work. David Hammons, Public Political Art Enemy, Installation, 1991 Willie Bester, Homage to Steve Biko, 1992, Mixed Media

This is a multimedia installation with Theodore Roosevelt flanked by African American and Native Americans as servants, to reveal the racism embedded in America’s cultural heritage This is a tribute to a leader ofthf the Bl ac kLibk Libera tion KtfKrzysztof WdikWodiczko, The Movement, which protest homeless Projection, 1986 apartheid in South Africa A projected image of homeless people and their plastic bags filled with their few possessions.

Kehinde Wiley, , Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps. ƒ“Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us.” – KhidKehinde Wiley ƒHistorically, portraiture not only creates a likeness but communicates ideas status, wealth, and power. ƒSubstitutes anonymous Black man in contemppyorary David, clothing; illuminated with Napoleon baroque or rococo decorative Crossing patterns – Modernist Saint-Bernard reminder that this is a painting. ƒConfronts and critiques historical traditions that do not acknowledge Black cultural experience. ƒRedefines & affirms Black identity, questions history of ƒWestern painting JEAN-AUGUSTE- DOMINIQUE INGRES, Napoleon on His Imperial Throne, 1806.

ƒIn 2005, VH1 commissioned Wiley to paint portraits of the honorees for that year’ s Hip Hop Honors program. ƒThe artists chose poses—taken from Wiley’s personal art book collection—that best suited the personal aspects of their character. ƒValue, in all its meanings, has always played a role in culture. Unlike its precursors— classical, jazz, rock—which have since been canonized and given an art-historical time frame and construct, hip hop continues to be seen merely as entertainment. This series of Wiley’s portraits speaks specifically to that Kehinde Wiley, Ice T, 2005, juxtaposition and the retooling of importance. Oil on Canvas, 8’ x 6’ Mark Tansy, A Short History of Modernist Painting

•Born in San Jose and lives in •Both ppyyarents were art historians so he had an early introduction to art history and had a profound effect on his painting style •He provides viewers with a summary of the various approaches to painting artists have embraced over the years. •Illustrates the ambiguities and paradoxes of Postmodernists' Pictorialism in that it demonstrates the artist’s consciousness of his place in the continuum of art history and also functions as a critique on fundamental art historical premises by creating metaphors of how painting has been addressed during different eras. Mark Tansy Purity Test 1982 The Innocent Eye Test 1981

"In Tansey's painted metaphor for the perception of art, we are the cow, ..Indians on houseback gaze down...at and the scientists want to know how Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, 1970. and what we see --- hardly the Smithson had sought to create a pure stuff of Frank Stella's famous dictum image. The Indians, unware of the "What you see is what you see.“ spiral's function as a work of art, attempppt to decipher it as a sy mbol...“ From Judi Freeman Mark Tansey From Judi Freeman Mark Tansey Postmodernism in Painting, Sculpture, and New Media • Postmodern artists challenged the Modernist emphasis on originality and creativity • They addressed issues of the copy or reproduction and the appropri ati on o f images or ideas from others • Mass culture is a defining feature of Postmodernism in rejecting the notion that each art work contains a fixed meaning • Postmodern artists are influenced by the ideas of Deconstructivist theorists. (sought to break apart the concept of classical order and space, essentially opposed the or dere d ra tiona lity o f Mo dern ism ) Anselm Kiefer, Nigredo, 1984; Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac, and straw, on photograph, mounted on canvas, with woodcut, 10’ 8” x 18’ 2”.

German artist used perspective to pull the viewer into an incinerated landscape alluding to the Holocaust. Jeff Koons, Pink Panther, 1988 The ppporcelain sculpture has an acute understanding of the dynamics of consumer culture. He combines a magazine centerfold with a well-known cartoon character. Jeff Koons at Versailles in 2008 Jeff Koons exhibition, Balloon Dog from the Celebration Series, 1994 - Versailles in 2008 exhibition, 2000 (10’ orange Balloon Dog Balloon Flower from the sold for $58.4 million in 2013 at Celebration Series, 1995 - 1999, Christies Auction) 9’ 6”.

Jeff Koons In the early 1980’s – like Warhol and Duchamp, he exhibited common objects and made no attempt to manipulate the objects – represented commodity as the basis for society at large Koons was actually a commodities broker (Wall Street) before turning to art. He believes postmodern culture is linked to consumerism - Called Neo- Pop or Post Pop Takashi Murakami, Oval Buddh a Go ld (2007-2010), at the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris of the palace and gardens 2010, Versailles.

ƒSelf-portrait – facial hair in a goatee. ƒReferences to enlightenment and knowledge – lotus flower, spiral on the frog’s pot- belly equated with the Buddhist path to reincarnation and karmic rebirth, frog figurine is often left on Japanese graves as a totem of rebirth or the spirit’s return. ƒTwo-faced nature of the figure – reference to the Roman god Janus, whose 2 faces looked into past and future –god of transitions and beginnings. ƒElephant on base indicates endurance; importance of the gold/platinum leaf finish, marking a turning point; a rebirth or declaration that Mrakami’s work is entering an age of enlightenment. Marisol Escobar, Self-Portrait Looking at the Last Supper, 1982-1984

This is a tribute to the Renaissance master. It is a sculptural replica of Leonard’s Last Supper, transforming the fresco into an object. The artist is seated as a viewer. Postmodernism and Art Institutions

• Postmodern artists have consciously reappraised the processes of art historical validation, reassessed art institutions (museums and galleries), addressed the role of these institutions in validating art, and scrutinized the discriminatory policies and politics of these institutions. Satirical ceramic sculpture Robert Arneson, California Artist, 1982,

• Arneson was born in Benicia and graduated from Benicia High School. He spent much of his early life as a cartoon ist for a local paper. Arneson studied at California College of Arts and was a professor at UC Davis. • Robert Arneson was reacting to a negative review by a critic that Californian art was provincial in his self-portrait known as California Artist. • He revealed his comprehension of the mechanism (art criticism) people use currently to evaluate and validate art. Architecture and Site-Specific Art

• One would be hard-pressed to find a modern building with pediments, Doric columns, or flying buttresses; what exists is a display of technology • Most advance change is computers – no longer are blueprints drawn by hand – programs like AutoCAD and MicroStation assist in drawing plans and automatically check for architectural errors • New age technology has produced an array of ppgg,p,roducts that make buildings lighter, cheaper, and more energy efficient. Deconstructivist Architecture

•Architects attempt to disorient the observer by disrupting the conventional categories of architecture. The haphazard presentation of volumes, masses, planes, lighting, etc challenges the viewer’s assumptions about form as it relates to function. •Six adjectives that describe Deconstructivist architecture: Gunter Behnisch, •Disorder Hysolar Institute •Dissonance Building, University •Imbalance of Stuttgart, •Asymmetry •Unconformity •Irregularity Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Bilbao Museo, Bilboa, Spain

•Appearance of asymmetrical exterior with outside walls giving no hint to interior spaces •Irregular masses of titani um wall s •Sweeping curved lines •Deconstructionist architecture •Good example of how computers can help architects render shapes and meaningful designs in an imaginative way

Interior Leoh Ming Pei, Grand Louvre PidPyramide, Musee du Louvre, Par is, France, 1988

Egyptian stone architecture inspired Pei’ s entryway to the Louvre. The transparent tent serves as a skylight for the underground extension of the museum. MAYA YING LIN, Vietnam Veterans Memorial •V-shaped monument cut into the earth with 60,000 casualties of the Vietnam War listed in the order they were killed or reported missing •One arm of the monument points to the Lincoln Memorial, the other to the Washington Monument •Black granite as a highly reflective surface so that viewers can see themselves in the names of the veterans; black is an appropriate somber color for the memorial •Strongly influenced by the Minimalist movement Site Art, Earth Art, or Earthworks 1970s to today

• Depend en t on its loca tion to ren der fu ll mean ing • Often works of Site Art are temporary and other times they remain but need original environment intact in order for it to be fully understood such as earthworks Christo & Jeanne-Claude Keith Haring - Graffiti and Mural Painting Tuttomondo, Sant’Antonio, • Haring burst onto the New York Pisa, Italy, 1989 art scene as a subway graffito artittist and quickly gained an international reputation. • His Pisa mu ral featu res his signature cartoonlike characters and is a hymn to life. • He died of AIDS the year after this was completed He began doing chalk drawings on blank adtiibdIthNYCbdvertising boards In the NYC subway system while at art college

Untitled, 1983 Keith Haring In 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets bearing his images . Haring considered the shop to be an extension of his work. The shop was intended to allow people greater access to his work, which was now readily available on products at a low cost. The shop was criticized by many in the art world, but Haring remained committed to his desire to make his artwork available to as wide an audience as possible, and received strong support for his project from friends, fans and mentors including Andy Warhol. Post-Modernism: and New Media

Nam June Paik, Megatron, 1995

• video art is a subset of artistic works which relies on "moving pictures" and is comprised of video and/or audio data. •despite obvious parallels and relationships, video is not film. • involved with the post neo-Dada art movement, fluxus Fluxus: is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s, The movement, which still continues, played an important role in the opening up of definitions of what art can be • considered the “father of video art”

• "Without electricity, there can be no art. " (ca. 1976)

• his work frequently combines sculpture with video and/or computer programs • explores the contrast between the traditional and the digital in society • effect of digital world on society

Techno Buddha, 1993 Bill Vio la

Bill Viol a, The Crossi ng, 1996 , Video/Sound Installation • With two channels of color video projection • uses digital video to encourage introspection and to explore spirituality. • Video projects use extreme slow motion, contrasts in scale, shifts in focus, mirrored reflections and editing to create a dramatic sensory experiences HOLZER, Untitled, The Living Series, 1989 , Mansheshe

This installation consisted of eltlectron ic signs creat tded using LED technology. It is a continuous display of text around the interior ramp of the Guggenheim Let’s Switch Blue You, 2006 Video samples: http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=8aqIk _ynVak&feature=related https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTG1oxBo-3o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhbFnPaDZdU Chapppyter 31: Contemporary Art Social Art: Race, Ethnicity, and National Identity

Faith Ringgold, Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? 1983 Question

• Analyze how the artist’s choices of imagery and medium address the social issues of race and gender. BARBARA KRUGER, UtitldUntitled, Your gaze hits the side of my face ,

Question • AlAnalyze how Kruger uses image and tex t an d appropriation to convey meaning in this work. 1. Compare how these works reflect and draw on the works on which they are based. 2. Contrast the way these two artists used different media to create their works of art in regard to the originals upon which they are based. Kehinde Wiley, Nappgoleon Leading Marisol Escobar, Self-Portrait the Army over the Alps, 2005. Looking at the Last Supper, 1982- Bronze. 1984. Contemppyorary Art

1. Thinking back to the beginning of this class, how do you think the field of Contemporary Art is different from other historical periods? 2. The World Wars of the 20th century were impactful for art. Discuss the ways that the wars have impacted and influenced art? What other key events in the latter half of the century have influenced Contemporary Art.