Definition of Postmodernism

The term Postmoderism came into general speech in the 1970’s. It has been defined by critic Howard Risatti as a movement that “insisted on the impure, on the mixing and matching of...qualities as well as forms, styles and materials.”(1) The development of Postmodernism can be seen as a backlash against the subjectivity, purity, and detachment of Modernism. With the rising social discontent caused by the Vietnam war and the cultural revolution spurred on by multiple human rights movments, Modernism's perceived detachment from the cultural turmoil taking place left artists feeling dissatisfied. Postmodern artists lost some of the supreme idealism of their Modernist brethren, and as a result work produced during the mid 70's and onwards was generally more narrative, concerned with contemporary events and distinctly political in its scope. In this same vein, a key defining point of Postmodernism has been the overt criticism of any accepted social doctrine. The Guerilla Girls provide salient examples of this type of narrative criticism.

Postmodernism followed in the footsteps of the dadaists and Duchamp; postmodern artists were concerned with creating a more cross-disciplinary approach to making, which resulted in a movement that was more democratic in its scope. Unlike Modernism, Postmodernists did not seek to create a universal style, or try to find a visual language that spoke for everyone. Instead, they embraced their cultural and historical limitations, using these situational certainties to attack such loaded political subjects as sexual orientation, gender discrimination, racial tensions and American foreign policy. This resulted in a proliferations of different genres of Postmodernist art work such as Feminist Art, Body Art, and Land Art. There is some debate regarding whether we have left the era of Postmodernism; this is certainly a possibility, yet it begets the question that if we have in fact left Postmodernism behind, what doctrine do we now follow?

1. Howard Risatti, “Metaphysical Implications of Function, Material, and Technique in Craft”. 33

Some Postmodern Artists

Carolee Schneemann

Guerilla Girls

Phillip Taaffe

Eduardo Kac

Ana Mendietta

Orlan

Yoko Ono

Tom Friedman

Waafa Bilal

Climbing Poetree

Some Postmodern Critics/Art Historians

Linda Nochlin

Griselda Pollock

Jorge Luis Borges

Hélène Cixous

Umberto Eco

Dave Hickey
Michel Foucault

Howard Risatti

Edward Said