Postmodern aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of what is considered beauty at the specific time/era.1 For example, during the Renaissance, women that were to be considered beautiful and sexy would have to have curves and voluptuous bodies as opposed to today’s size 0 beauty standards. This shows that points of view, perception and aesthetics change with each era. Etymologically, the word aesthetic comes from the greek verb αισθάνομαι, which means I perceive, I feel. One key feature of postmodern aesthetics is the ideology and theory that the author is dead and that his intentions should not be considered the most important thing of his work, but how others interpret his work. The main person that discusses this theory is French literacy critic and theorist Roland Barthes in his essay "The Death of the Author" (1967). In his text, the traditional notions of authorship are being challenged and, by doing so, challenging the writers/authors control over their own text. For example, many postmodern critics including Roland Barthes would argue that what the reader brings to a text has as much to do with how a reader interprets a text as what the author writes and intends. Equivelantely, social constructionists argue that authors themselves are written by their cultures and societies, authorship is a social construct and is granted by various communities, such as academic and professional groups. After reading Rolands text, I believe he is right about the authors intention not being the only way of interpreting a piece of art , text, or even music (song), since each individual viewing a specific piece has their own set of values, morals and l... ... middle of paper ... ...hem and their work.21 This relates greatly to what Barthes talks about in his text, because if it is not the author/artist himself that produces a body of work but a "muse/genius", then we cannot entirelly believe that the author/artist should have any say in what their work is about. In addition, it is clear within the fashion and music industry that things repeat themselves after a certain amount of time. Therefore, their is not much originallity left in the world since everyone is "inspired" by someone in the past to help them produce their work. All in all, I strongly believe that Roland Barthes is correct with his ideology that the artist in general, is progressivelly losing their authority over their creations, because if they were not and we had to thank everyone who contributed into a body of work they produced in any way, we would be dead before we finished.
In existential thought it is often questioned who decides what is right and what is wrong. Our everyday beliefs based on the assumption that not everything we are told may be true. This questioning has given light to the subjective perspective. This means that there is a lack of a singular view that is entirely devoid of predetermined values. These predetermined values are instilled upon society by various sources such as family to the media. On a societal level this has given rise to the philosophy of social hype. The idea of hype lies in society as the valuation of something purely off someone or some group of people valuing it. Hype has become one of the main driving forces behind what society considers to be good art and how successful artists can become while being the main component that leads to a wide spread belief, followed by its integration into subjective views. Its presence in the art world propagates trends, fads, and limits what we find to be good art. Our subjective outlook on art is powered by society’s feedback upon itself. The art world, high and low, is exploited by this social construction. Even when objective critique is the goal subjective remnants can still seep through and influence an opinion. Subjective thought in the art world has been self perpetuated through regulated museums, idolization of the author, and general social construction because of hype.
Postmodernity is said to be “a reaction against the Modern movement” (Nicol 2009) and has shown a complete disregard for many aspects of art and design that were popularized during modernity, including: legibility, the grid, and use of a clear hierarchy. Postmodernism, as an art movement, aims to create works based on an independent style. Nothing is new in postmodern art, in a sense that something always comes from something else.
In recent years, multiculturalism, tolerance and political correctness have been integrated into how American society thinks. America seems to be trying to learn more about the ingredients of her melting pot. These efforts can be best understood by examining post-modernism. Post-modernism is especially important to breaking down stereotypes such as those that exist surrounding the black family.
Questioning Marxist aesthetics is essential to an understanding of the enlightenment movements. Art, in its nearly infinite forms, is the vehicle for knowledge of a subjective kind. Through visual, linguistic, audio, or dance any number of messages and ideas may be conveyed, and these ideas may then be interoperated. The aesthetic form is what constitutes good or great art. It puts forth a structure by which one can judge a piece beyond the mere technical skill that is presented in it, though that is an important issue. The aesthetic form puts forth the notion that art sublimates reality, creating another reality that brings into question this one. Creating this fictional reality is the responsibility of art. According to Marcuse “renunciation of the aesthetic form is abdication
In relation to contemporary cultural aesthetic, the postmodern adopts two modes: mainstream mode and oppositional mode (Hayward 302). In Amelie, a mainstream approach is taken through the mannerisms and stylization of the film, through pastiche. Amelie resembles a mainstream use of pastiche and bricolage, which can be seen through the assemblage and mixtures of the different styles and genres. The assemblage of different genres is a common characteristic that is found in many postmodern films. We get a blurred line of genres ...
Theo D’haen, a professor at the University of Leuven, synthesizes that a postmodernist writer is one who uses a “combination of any number of techniques that were seen as innovative and perhaps even transgressive, especially with regard to all forms of referentiality, be it reference to some “real” reality as in realism or to a “psychological” reality as in modernism”(Theo D’haen 272). Following this explanation, the self-reflectiveness, interdependency, parody and mimetic reality that readers are exposed to when reading a metafictional piece, branches into the different interpretations presented by D’haen: a ‘real’ reality and a ‘psychological’ reality. The act of judging any work of art in relation to its representation of reality is a parallel to the reader’s assimilation of a mimetic reality, acknowledged by a physiological th...
The concept of postmodernism has been much misunderstood. Resistance may come from the unfamiliarity of the wide range of work the term covers: the art of Andy Warhol; the music of John Cage and Terry Riley; ...
Postmodernism is a style of art that first became popular in the late 20th century. When seeing the word postmodernism, it might have to do with any one medium of art-- literature, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. Lyotard, a founder of postmodernism in philosophy, is quoted as saying, “Simplifying to the extreme, I define the postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By saying this, Lyotard simply meant that, as a postmodernist, he was against the ways of thinking of modernists and wanted to see something new philosophically and artistically. Postmodernity demonstrates a departure from the art style modernism.
Aesthetics is the theoretical study of the arts and related types of behavior and experience. It is traditionally regarded as a branch of philosophy, concerned with the understanding of beauty and its manifestations in art and nature. However, in the latter 20th century there developed a tendency to treat it as an independent science, concerned with investigating the phenomena of art and its place in human life. Yet, what in a field with a hazy line in between being classified as a science or study of beliefs is considered data for determining what can be studied? It can simply be drawn to the only three things involved in the process of art : The creator, the person experiencing, and the art itself.
Today most art education programs are made up of four components. One of these components is art aesthetics. Aesthetics is the study of the nature of a piece of artwork. It analyzes the work by asking specific questions regarding the artist and the piece. The viewer becomes the judge in a sense. It tries to discover what the artwork might be representing. They could also ask what type of emotion the artist was trying to convey in their work. The viewer also takes part in analyzing the physical aspects and characteristics of the work. It focuses on the use of color, sequence and synchrony of an artwork. It notes the artist’s craftsmanship, artistic ability and proficiency in technique (Hoffman 1999).
Foucault 's essay “What is an author” explores the relationship between author, text, and reader. Foucaults essay seems to be an implicit response to Barthes 's famous essay "The Death of the Author." as Foucault argues that the issue of the disappearance or death of the author has not been developed sufficiently, and needs further consideration, beginning with the clarification of what constitutes a “work.” Foucault wants to discuss the relationship between an author and a text, and the manner in which the text points to the author as a figure who is outside the text, and who precedes it. Foucault draws upon the function of the author to provide a discourse of the difference between an author and a writer, and whether or not such a characterisation
Post impressionism is a term that is used to describe a group of late-19th century and early-20th century artists whose work helped art transition into a new era. These artist defied the naturalism of the Impressionist to explore color, line, and form. This rebellion led to the development of Expressionism. Generally, the approaches were so varied that it is difficult just to focus on one artist and their technique.
The Expressionists What do we mean by Expressionism? Expressionism is when a person or a group of people portray their feelings and emotions over a particular matter in such a way that their message is delivered across the board. Whether this is in the form of singing/dancing, art, acting, debating or by physical methods. We say that they are expressing their feelings. When they are expressing their feelings, you can clearly see the look on one’s face which can explain the way they are feeling and what they are expressing.
Art has evolved and regenerated itself many times during our human existence. These differences are defined through changes in styles under various theories. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a style known as Expressionism became popular. During this movement the artists were trying to use their artwork as a tool of expression toward life. It was mainly dominant in the nonrepresentational arts, such as abstract visual arts and music. It also was probably one of the most difficult movements to understand because the whole point of the piece lay within the artist. Not only was it a movement, it defined the act of art as a whole. From the beginning of time, each work of art, excluding replicas, show a way of expressing one's self. Every artist puts a piece of his or herself into their artwork. Who really is to determine what that work of art was meant to express?
views as to what art is; and as they say, beauty is in the eye of the