Analysis Of Three Atrists From Modernism, Postmodernism And Beyond Postmodernism
I strive to become a better artist and for my last body of work I am to create something big, huge even. I have picked these three artists, not because they are related in anyways to me or to each other, but because I am genuinely interested in their works and overall theme of their art, so much that I am writing this essay about them. Jacob Lawrence is the artist chosen for modernism, Barbara Kruger is the artist chosen for Postmodernism and Anish Kapoor was chosen for beyond postmodernism.
The modernism artist I chose was Jacob Lawrence, who was born in New Jersey, on September 7th, 1917. He was known for having an early start to his career; in his artwork he combined social realism, bold colours and modern abstraction to express the stories of the experiences that African American lived through, along with the history of the USA. Lawrence’s main movements or styles were Social realism and Harlem Renaissance. Lawrence was also said to have “brought the African-American experience to life using blacks and browns juxtaposed with vivid colors. ”
Based upon his own life, Lawrence’s work was his thought and feelings about the struggle of humans and the “aspirations that resonated with diverse viewers. ” When he reached his “artistic maturity” during the waxing of abstract expressionism to the Harlem Renaissance, Lawrence began to create a new path regarding the stories of war, migration and mental illnesses. Lawrence’s own artwork was seen as stories, where they were presented in individual panels to tell a story. It was present that he was inspired or influenced by avant-garde cinema and often presented to have a montage-effect, with structural strategies. These structural strategies included motifs which recurred, and a unified palette of colour so that it would connect each individual painting into one story.
The painting that I chose by Jacob Lawrence is called Dream No. 2, it was made in 1965 and his style of this work was cubism. I picked this artwork because it interested me with all of the colours and how it is telling a story. I believe that in the picture there is a woman sitting in a chair in the foreground looking sorrowful and staring blankly out the window. In the background, however, it looks like there is a bride and groom who appear to be unhappy and are fighting. Cubism tends to be semi-abstract, where object are seen as what they are intended to look like, except they are not perfect looking, seeming as though they were puzzle pieces put together. The story of this picture would not be about what is going on in the background, but in the foreground, with the woman being the main picture. The background would give indication that it would be an unhappy story and the woman in the chair, being the main focus is seen as being unhappy.
The artists I chose for postmodernism is Barbara Kruger and, much like Jacob Lawrence, Kruger was also born in New Jersey, except she was born in 1945 instead of 1917. She was brought up in the middle class and was accepted into Syracuse University, taking multiple design classes. Later Kruger then moved to New York City to become enrolled into Parsons School of Design and take more advanced art and design classes. She was well known for the silk screen print that she did on pre existing pictures. Kruger placed the captions which were direct and concise, over top the image. These print from the 1980s have clearly captures the Reaganomics ear. Kruger's work was evolving, expanding into something more. She included more site-specific works, audio and videos too. She did these all the while still maintaining the social, political and cultural critiques that she expressed. Along with postmodernism feminism and conceptual art She also“combines tactics like appropriation with her characteristic wit and direct commentary” so that she can communicate with her audience in order to encourage the scrutinizing of all the contemporary circumstances.
The art that I chose from Barbara Kruger’s works is called “We will not become what we meant to”. Her art is all considered mixed media, where it is a combination of more than one type of media or material. Kruger states the reasoning behind this specific work of art, “I’m interested in how identities are constructed, how stereotypes are formed, how narratives sort of congeal and become history. ” She explains how using only the pronouns “you” and “we”, she can refer to anyone regardless of gender while shining light on the objectification of the anonymous women in the picture.
The artists I chose to represent beyond postmodernism is Anisha Kapoor, who is a british sculptor and was born in Bombay. He moved to London in the early 1970s so that he could study art at Hornsey College of art and Chelsea School of Art and design. Kapoor was presented the Premia Duemila Prize in 1990 and in 1991 he was awarded the Turner Prize. Kapoor was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for the services to visual arts. From the University of Oxford in 2014, He was awarded with an honorary doctorate degree. Regarding Anish Kapoor's artwork, he is considered a leading contemporary artist working with public, large scale and abstract sculptures. Kapoor’s sculptures have varied in sizes over the years and also in materials that have been used, some examples include mirrors, PVC and wax.
The art that I chose by Anish Kapoor is called “Six Secret Places”, and it was created in 1983. In his work it is evident that he has joined the cultural traditions of the east and west. His sculpture “Six Secret Places” has their organic forms that derive from the elements water, seeds, fire, flowers, mountains and fruit. The use of the vibrant pigment, refers to the Hindu worship of India and their fertility rituals. It is said this sculpture confirms Kapoors involvement within places of power and that the colour red is to symbolize masculinity whereas yellow is relative to desire.
