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The modernist and post modernist age of art:
alienation and reconciliation of a lost audience.
Dong Won Kim
California State University at Northridge
presented May 1, 1993 at the
All California State University Art History Symposium
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The modernist and postmodernist age of art: alienation and reconciliation of a lost
audience.
Since the mid 19th century to the current development of postmodernist art the viewer
has typically misunderstood and rejected contemporary art. The crisis that art faces in the
late 20th century is similar to the problem that Impressionism faced over a century ago: a
lack of understanding what the artist is attempts to represent. The audience has
increasingly become alienated from art because it has lacked the knowledge of the
theories and philosophies involved in the new modes of representation. Thus, the
communication of the conceptual constructs has become crucial in the comprehension
and appreciation of art in the 20th century, However, these theories have become more
difficult for the spectator to access. Art has a double meaning through the conceptual and
the visual. Similarly, the artists have a dual purpose of expression of the self and creation,
for others. These dualisms in art and artists
create a difficulty in the communication between artist and spectator.
Postmodernist art has tried to resolve the problem by attempting to empower the
audience. The tools they use are multicultural diversity, feminist theory, mass
communication
and accessibility to the art work. Keith Haring used street culture, the media, and
alternative
spaces, such as the subway, to provide an art form that many people could see and enjoy
much
more easily than some modernist art, such as Marcel Duchamp's The Large Glass (1915-
1923).
However, postmodernist art continues to perpetuate the very problems that it endeavors to
resolve. The "avant garde" and the importance of the artists have not lost the significance
that
postmodernism has intended to make irrelevant. Much of the division of art and viewer is
still
present due to validation of the artists in exhibitions in galleries and museums.
The attempt to demystify the romanticized myth of the modern artist has been
unsuccessful due to the contradictory actions within the postmodernist movement. For
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example, A viewer may see Jeff Koon's 3 Ball 50/50 Tank (1985) and know he/she could
make the same thing easily, yet, Koons' "creation" of the work is relevant. Are the avant
garde
and the myth of the modern artist truly dismissed or have they evolved into a newer
form?
Until the invention of photography in the mid 19th century, the aesthetics of Western
art had existed as a mimetic representation of reality. Since the camera could capture a
much
more realistic visual reality as in W. H. Talbot's 1845 photograph "Sailing Craft", art had
begun to move away from an illusionistic vision as in Gustave Courbet's Shore at Palavas
of
1854. In the mid 19th century Gustave Courbet painted in a subtle way a new
representation
of reality that acknowledged the existence of the two dimensional surface of the canvas in
works such as in Burial at Omans (1849) and Shore at Palavas. The surface of the canvas
was
emphasized through the use of paint as a material with its own properties and functions
such
as impasto, dabbing, stippling, etc. Through his inventions and artistic philosophy he laid
a
new path for the Moderns.
Impressionism took Courbet's theoretical approach further by abandoning local color
and systems of perspective, as in Moulin de la Galette (1876) by Auguste Renoir and
Claude
Monet's Rouen Cathedral (1892-93). Post-Impressionism took what the Impressionists
had
begun to another level. Two directions developed in PostImpressionism, visualization of
emotional reality, as in Vincent Van Gogh's Night Cafe (1888), and the study of the
underlying
structure of reality as in works such as Georges Seurat's Bathers (1883-84). In these
paintings,
the theoretical construct involved with the artwork is necessary in the comprehensive
understanding of the paintings. Without this understanding, the artists would appear to
have
painted in their manner due to a lack of talent and/or a form of a compulsive insanity,
otherwise, the audience would have a superficial appreciation of the work. Post-
Impressionism
was the moment when the visual and the conceptual aspects of art began to emerge as
separate
entities. The separation of the
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conceptual and the visual, represents a crucial point in the widening of the gap between
audience and art.
With the onset of a further deconstruction in the analytical structure of reality in
Cubism, Futurism and De Stijl, and the further evolution of the emotional representation
of
reality in Fauvism, German Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, theories and
philosophies began to play a much greater role in art than previously.
The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings can be appreciated on a purely
visual level, but the 20th century artists have become even more of visual philosophers.
They
generally wished to include the viewer in the mechanisms and formulation of the artwork
through the visual and psychological processes of perception and thought, but the viewer
has
been alienated further through a lack of knowledge of the artist's intentions. It is
imperative
that the viewer learn about the artist and his/her theories and philosophy to understand the
work, for without any research into the "movement" or style the viewer lacks a
comprehensive
appreciation of the artwork. In order to understand what the Abstract Expressionists were
attempting to represent, one must know the theories of art that artists such as Jackson
Pollock,
Vassily Kandinsky, Van Gogh,and Willem De Kooning held. Otherwise, the viewer will
perceive the artwork as something that anybody could have done. When an audience
looks at
Jackson Pollack's Lucifer (1947), they may either see the work as a collection of dripped
paint
on a visual level, or they may understand the theory needed to formulate a complete
understanding of what Pollack attempted to represent. Has the duality within art become
so
extreme that the visual and the conceptual are no longer compatible?
The context of the contact with the artwork, usually a gallery or a museum, is
identified by the viewer as a "special place", therefore, the artist is a "special person", and
the
myth of the modern artist is reinforced. If the audience sees a work that they believe that
they
could have done, such as Jackson Pollack's Lucifer (1947) or Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle
Wheel
(1913), and they do not perceive the conceptual aspects of the artwork, then
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a far greater alienation or rejection of the art may occur. Thus, alienation from the work
of art
occurs from a breakdown in the communication of ideas and the mixed message of the
myth
of the modern artist.
Similarly, a viewer of Georges Braque's The Portuguese (1911) and Pablo Picasso's
Standing Female Nude (1910) must know the theories of representation that analytical
Cubism
is based upon to obtain any understanding of the true nature of the paintings. Otherwise,
one
will have a superficial appreciation, if any, of the art. In a statement to Murius de Zayas
Picasso said, "The fact that even today there are people who cannot see anything in
Cubism
means nothing. I do not read English, an English book is a blank book to me. This does
not
mean the English language does not exist, and why should I blame anybody else but
myself if I
cannot understand what I know nothing about?"
t

This is true with the different languages of

modern art. Just as languages that are foreign to the listener are nothing more than human
sounds, The Portuguese is shapes, lines and shading, Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917)
and
Trap (1917) are a urinal on its side and a coat rack nailed to the floor. In the case of
Duchamp's work it has a meaning that may not be visual, but more conceptual. Who
should
make the effort to make art accessible, the artist or the viewer? Must the artist provide all
the
answers for the audience, or should the audience seek all of the answers to the questions
raised
by the artists?
Ironically, as the contemporary world has become more easily accessible, in libraries,
television, the printed word, etc., the access to the meaning and understanding of art has
become increasingly difficult. All of these sources of information, whether fictional or
non-fictional media, are utilized to either learn more about the "real world" or to escape
from
the "real world" to the world created by another, such as a writer, film maker, actor,
musician,
etc. In contrast, contemporary art has slowly, but steadily, built a tower for which one
needs an
equally high scaffold of information and knowledge to understand. This, of course, did
not
happen overnight, but the avant garde, the constant "out-doing" of other artists with no
concern for the audience, and the establishment of the myth of the
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modern artist has contributed to building this ivory tower. Some people do not have the
time
and or conviction to acquire the knowledge required to overcome such a monstrous
barrier,
and these people forfeit the joy of understanding modern art. Thus, an intellectual elitism
is
established because of a difficulty in communication between artist and viewer. Although
the
contemporary artist wishes to include the audience in their work, the viewer is left out
because
the comprehension of the art requires more than a visual understanding. What does
Sherry
Levine have to offer an audience in looking at Check #2 (1986)? What are they to
appreciate?
Her use of appropriation in her other work, Fountain (After Duchamp: 1) (1991), makes it
very
difficult for viewers to understand her mode of representation since she appropriates
much of
what many viewers did not previously understand. Thus, the audience's confusion and
frustration in understanding the original work is heightened by the appropriation process.
In
the attempt to nullify the avant garde and the single styles of the modern artists, has the
avant
garde reappeared in the guise of the eclecticism of the postmodernist movement?
The postmodernists have attempted to shift from the physical realm to a completely
conceptual plane, but the problem of art being perceived as a tangible object is due to the
audience being unaware that this shift has occurred. Thus, the commodity of the physical
is
relevant to the spectator. Whether it is the documentation of a work or a "prop" used in
performance art, the physical has an intrinsic value. The sketches and plans of Cristo's
Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida (1980-83) have a value to the
audience
although they are not the actual work. Since painting and sculpture have such a tradition
of
thousands of years, a purely conceptual art would need a new medium as well. Thus, it
was
inevitable that art would, in some cases, leave the canvas and other traditional materials.
The
most powerful methods of communicating conceptual art are through other means, such
as
video, computer art, performance, writing and other mediums that occupy time and space
as a
means of expression. Just as photography forced 19th century art to find a new form of
expression, conceptual art is doing the same for the late 20th century.
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Since human thought is formulated and processed in a linear manner, it would imply that
conceptual art would be most successful in a similar mode, only then can conceptual art
be
free of the restraints that have been placed upon it from the visual tradition. The audience
assumes that it has an understanding of how one should look at tangible art. However, the
conceptual aspects of art are usually overlooked. A spectator looking at Michelangelo's
David
(1501-04) assumes that he/she has a complete understanding of the sculpture. However,
unless
he/she learns that there are conceptual aspects to the sculpture, such as the expression on
David's face demonstrating Michelangelo's perceptions of psychological contemplation
within
David before the battle with Goliath, the conceptual nature of the sculpture is ignored by
the
audience that is blinded by their vision. Thus, artwork that is conceptual and tangible has
a
disadvantage over conceptual art that exists primarily in time, as in video and
performance,
because the viewer has a preconception of how to look at paintings and sculptures.
However,
the audience would believe that artwork that is constantly changing would have to be
examined differently than one that is unchanged by time.
In Ways of Seeing John Berger states, "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and
recognizes before it can speak."2 Thus, the visual is the most comfortable plane of
existence for
the human being. Then Berger states, "It is seeing which establishes our place in the
surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact
that
we are surrounded by it."3 The facilities of language and analytical thought are developed
at a
much later stage of development, but are equally important in our perception and
understanding of the world, but the fact remains that humans are basically visual with the
capacity for reason. The age of conceptual art makes it possible for all physical artifacts
to be
art through the conceptual, but the contradiction exists through the tangible facet of
conceptual art that still is a commodity.
The postmodernist critic and painter, Thomas Lawson, in his 1984 essay "Last Exit:
Painting" writes, "I believe that most of the serious critics who are not at all interested
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in the problem of defining the clumsy word 'postmodernism' would agree ...not only is the
viability of any particular medium suspect, but that aesthetic experience itself has been
rendered doubtful.
"4
Art seems to have evolved into a form where the concept is held in the
highest regard, and paintings and drawings are regarded as outdated. This antimodernist
emphasis on the conceptual has become the avant garde of our time. However, the visual
is as
important as the conceptual. If the public and art are not brought closer together, art will
continue to build a tower so high that the audience will eventually give up in attempting
to
understand and appreciate art. Thus, a reconciliation between the conceptual and the
visual
should be of utmost concern to the contemporary artist, and the public should utilize the
many forms of information retrieval to become an even more informed audience. Then
this
empowered audience art would respond more effectively and art and we will witness the
process of reconciliation between art and the public.
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Endnotes
1. Fry, Edward. "Pablo Picasso: Statement to Murius de Zayas" in Cubism, New York:
Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, 1978, pp. 160-161
2. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing, New York: Viking Penguin, 1977, p.7.
3. ibid
4. Lawson, Thomas. "Last Exit: Painting" in Art After Modernism: Rethinking
Representation, New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984, pp. 160-161.
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Bibliography Arnheim, Rudolf. Art and Visual
Perception. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing.
New York: Viking Penguin, 1977. Fry, Edward. "Pablo Picasso: Statement to Murius de Zayas"
in Cubism, New York:
Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, 1978.
Hunter, Sam and Jacobus, John. Modern Art. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. and
Harry N. Abrams, 1992. Jensen, Robert. "Selling Martyrdom", Art in America. April
1992, pp. 139-144, 175. Kaplan, E. Ann (ed.). Postmodernism and Its Discontents. New York:
Verso, 1988. Lawson, Thomas. "Last Exit: Painting" in Art After Modernism: Rethinking
Representation.
New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984. Moure, Gloria. Marcel
Duchamp. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1988.