Nicole Weber Paper 1: Critical Theory February 25, 2016

THE “FORMATIVE” MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL BOOMERANG -new applications through the lens of Pollock and Warhol-

"The problem of American painting, had been the problem of subject matter. Painting kept getting entangled in the contradictions of America itself. We made portraits of ourselves when we had no idea who we were. We tried to find God in landscapes we were destroying as fast as we could paint them. We painted Indians as fast as we could kill them. And during the greatest technological jump in history, we painted ourselves…. By the time we became Social Realists…when we finally abandon the hopeless constraint to create a national art, that we succeed for the first time, in doing just that; by resolving the problem…” - Painters Painting (1973)

Considering for a moment that the ideas considered within the Modern and Post Modern Art eras are referred to as two moments measured in time, a pre and post measure, that captures the summative historical pivots that I have studied to date. Here I orient toward a more middle ground or formative position, where we return to components of both perspectives, a formative ideology derived during this learning process, to modify ideas that improve experience, one where I position myself and future work.

The formative modern includes an “avant-garde culture of consciousness of history …to find a path along which it would be possible to keep culture moving in the midst of ideological confusion and violence” while strengthening our underdeveloped “universal literacy” as discussed by Greenburg (1936) within the Modern Art era. In addition, excepting that there are multiple ways of knowing and no universal truths while moving away from the dehumanized factory held outside ones influence as discussed within the Post Modern era. A formative modern focuses on the environmental crisis at hand, with brings us back to our community, to promote a sense of place and wonder that crosses the ‘great divide’ between popular culture and [their local natural] art (Staniszewski 1995).

As a trained environmental biologist, focused on environmental issues and education, I have returned to art in order to expand dissemination and create a different type of language around environmental issues. So after over twenty years since my last art class, I lean into the art discourse, beginning to learn of work and methods that will guide my journey. So far, I have been part of two critical theory discussion groups, both within the graduate and undergraduate populations and taught by two culturally distinct faculty. Through this experience, I have a new understanding on how the instructor lens can influence the historical perspective shared, a valuable experience that provides an alternative lens and more critical thought given to historical narratives. Within both of these experiences, the discussion has focused on the power of the critical discourse within the art world, and how this influenced the work of Pollock and Warhol within the shift from Modern to Post Modern art.

As art is a language that changes over time2 and from cultural perspective, within the shift of modern to post-modern art there was both a sense of loss and freedom. Modern artists shared a difficult historical context where materiality and textural richness appeared as characters on the surface challenging historical codes within the discourse (Sunanda 2016), and some go on to say that they communicated the absolute truths and acted as the martyrs of the restless unconscious for society (Steck 2016). Then within post-modernism the artist was more superficial, and was seen as an empty vessel within a dehumanized factory, but at the same time releasing the ideological point of view of nature as a spiritual place to nature as only a construct (Steck 2016).

As one of the last Modern Abstract Expressionist considered, Pollock’s work celebrated the materiality of the work, where each layer of paint and oil performed as a distinct character within the performance of his massive ‘drip’3 or ‘semenal’2 paintings (Image 1), where his gestures veiled the personal within his work through his primal actions and impulses. Pollock challenged the boundaries of painting, where he Nicole Weber Paper 1: Critical Theory February 25, 2016 worked with sticks rather than brushes, household paints, challenged the vantage point of his work by placing the canvas on the floor of his studio, and preconceived an area for display by cutting the section out of the larger canvas. Pollock rhythmically gesturing to spatter the industrial paints onto canvas, working within his work physically, and felt part of the production and process. “My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to… the floor… On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing… the painting has a life of its own…there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well. —Jackson Pollock in Time 1956 (Wikipedia1 2016)

1. Jackson Pollock LOST POLITICS: ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM 9 Full Fathom Five, 1947

Nicole Weber Paper 1: Critical Theory February 25, 2016

As one of the early post-modern artists, Warhol famously asserted that to 'know' him, you simply needed to look at the ‘surface,’ and not read into himself or his work, as there was nothing more (Hopkins 2000). Here in this work, Marilyn Diptych, after her death he focused on the commercialization of an individual. Through twenty silkscreens of her, his layers resembled the shift in her image as she transitioned from Norma Jeane Mortenson (Image 2) to Marilyn Monroe (Image 3; Wikipedia2 2016; Steck 2016). In Marilyn Diptych he repeats the image, and reminds to viewer of her image within the media, and the contrast of color can suggest her mortality (Tate Museum 2016).

2. Norma Jeane Mortenson 3. Marilyn Monroe

4. Andy Warhol Marilyn Diptych, 1962 Nicole Weber Paper 1: Critical Theory February 25, 2016

The contrast of ideas and imagies has generated applications for my studio, around the role Pollock and Warholl played within society at the time and the work they produces. As we consider affects of climate change and societal roles, there is now a shift to move society closer to the more Modern awareness that an individual is rational and can act independently, however taking into consideration that there are barriers of access to information as seen in Post-Modernism. In addition, considering the Modern thought that scientific knowledge can connect us to the local effects, however remembering the local/indigenous viewpoint is also crucial in understanding these environmental shifts. As in post-modern thought, counter to religious teaching, there is no master plan and we have to except the a level of chaos within the system. Even for a moment, considering mortality for the human race.

Generated from the classroom experiences, or ‘happenings’, I have created with an egg exploration with teachers, I work to bring the experience to a viewer with no facilitation or preformance [teaching] present [Image 5]. So in moving into bringing in the awareness and wonder to my viewer, here I would like to work with eggs to reimagine Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych, to capture the societal move from farm to factory. Here I have chosen watercolor as the medium, layering on or watering the images to reconsider the importance of water within the system. I would also like to include the viewer to have the option to see the white eggs from a confessional through a layer of red paint representing blood, to depict the sacrifice and contradiction of actions within the regions that produce chicken factories. Then from the farm egg side, show the movement of the Catholic Church to acknowledge the environmental concern. Then for Pollock’s primal method, I would like to remove the artist all together and use the natural movements of chickens on a canvas to capture a similar expression, reemphasizing the need to reconnect with earth’s messages.

5. Studio Implications

Nicole Weber Paper 1: Critical Theory February 25, 2016

References: de Antonio, E. Painters Painting 1973. Documentary. Movie

Hopkins, D. After Modern Art: 1945-2000. New York : Oxford University Press, 2000. Print

Sanyal, S. Personal Communication. 2016

Staniszewski, M. A. Believing is Seeing: Creating a Culture of Art, New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1995. Print

Steck, S. Personal Communication. 2016

Tate Museum. Marilyn Diptych. Web. February 2016

Wikipedia1. Jackson Pollock. Web. February 2016

Wikipedia2. Marilyn Monroe. Web. February 2016