Essay on Postmodern Art (Jan 2010)
In what ways does postmodern art challenge our assumptions about the Self? (essay Jan 2010)
In this essay I shall look at how female artists have used representations concerning ‘self’ and ‘identity’ in exploring aesthetic boundaries. 1 I will look at the philosophical ideas presented during the 1960-1970s by French authors Barthes, Baudrillard and Derrida. To illustrate my arguments, I will look at the work of Tracy Emin, Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger.
The theoretical framework that surrounds postmodern art is of an overwhelming and occasionally conflicting nature, which manages to both clarify and obscure the very essence of the artwork which we are attempting to appreciate. This intellectual confusion is partly based on the blurring of the definition of postmodernism: on the one hand, there is postmodernism as a historical and sociological condition and on the other hand there is postmodernism as an art movement, as a reaction against ‘modernism’. (Martin Irvine, 2004-2009, website) Offering a critical opinion on postmodern art means we must reflect on the dilemma of offering a narrative which itself can be interpreted freely. In the context of Barthes’ ‘Death of the Author’, the artist can offer a text (visual, written, performed) but the meaning must be given by us, the spectator, whereby any message will be explored in our own socio-historical and cultural context. As a result, we are free and at the same time a prisoner of our own language and experiences, continuously differing meaning, in a Derridan sense, delivering a narrative dependent on time and space.
Let us first consider the following statement: ‘Postmodernism is a contradictory phenomenon, one that uses and abuses, installs and then subverts, the very concept it challenges (…)’ (Linda Hutcheon, 1988, pp3). This comment, made just over twenty years ago, is an enduring observation which still resonates today, as we are about to enter the second decade of the 21stcentury.
The concept of identity or self can be considered multilayered in postmodern art: the artist’s self reflected into the viewer’s identity, but the attempt at subverting meaning is always contained in the work. Sometimes, the simplicity of the message is taken into a complex discourse. Experiencing postmodern art can leave us exhilarated and confused.
To illustrate this point, let us think about Tracy Enim’s work, and in particular the installation ‘My Bed’ for which she was nominated for the Turner prize in 1999 and which was exhibited in Edinburgh in 2008 as part of a much publicised retrospective. This unmade bed is, in essence, no more than an unmade bed (2) which, placed in a public gallery becomes a work of art, similar to Marcel Duchamps’ ‘Fountain’ back in 1917. We must read the narrative of an artist who is taunted by her past, through sexual encounters, abuse and a feeling of guilt and also pride, in exploring her feminine identity. This backdrop offers a narrative to the public who will sympathise, admire and contemplate. As a viewer we can read our own complex experiences into the work, which looks familiar (simplicity) yet portrays a complex narrative. The artwork is thus a visual and theatrical statement of an artist who made this piece more than ten years ago now, yet which meanings and interpretations associated with the work are part of the British culture and identity. The role of her womanhood, her self, can be read as a feminist narrative, itself a prominent development within the postmodern art world. The political and sociological undertones are very much part of Emin’s identity. Yet, in order to ‘portray’ the narrative, a public or commercial gallery space (3) has to be made available, an institution accepting and promoting the same ideological context, thus assimilating a minority view into a mainstream market.
It can be said that ‘the representational systems of the West admit only one vision – that of the constitutive male subject – or rather they [the presentational systems] posit the subject of representation as absolutely centered, unitary, masculine.’ (Craig Owens, 1983, pp58) Emin’s work, and that of other postmodernists such as Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman, is according to Owens staged as a reaction against the legislative frontier i.e. what can and cannot be represented. The structuralist ideas of signifier and signified are no longer the focus and are de-constructed. Postmodernism is
‘no longer to transcend representation, but is looking to that system of power that authorizes certain representations whilst blocking, prohibiting or invalidating others. Among those prohibited from Western representation, whose representations are denied all legitimacy, are women.’ (Craig Owens, 1983, pp59)
What Owen is referring to is not what is represented (images of women, of which there are plenty in the history of Western art) but the representations by subject, the self, the woman artist.
In addition, the work of Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger for instance, challenges our acceptance of aesthetic value, a value which in a Western tradition, has been dominated by a male vision. Sherman and Kruger refer to the use of cinematography and advertising and represent the female subject, yet subvert the narrative.
Barbara Kruger uses images that reflect advertising, photographic collages that combine stark black and white photography with juxtaposed text, slogans. ‘I shop therefore I am’ for instance represent an image based on consumerism with the text framed in a box, as if neatly handed over to any willing party. Kruger’s work, some with a strong feminist undertone, has a socio-political message, the culture of power, where the boundary of man/woman is less defined. The ‘I and You, used in various artworks, can refer to both male and female, the narrative is distorted, similar to a work entitled, ‘You are not yourself’, a graphic composition of a shattered photo of a woman, which can be read simultaneously as ‘You Are/You are not yourself’, with the word ‘not’ in a much smaller font size. Kruger uses her experience as a designer and photo editor to expose stereotypes of mass media: by constructing a layout, a space familiar to the viewer, the image is deconstructed, used as a metaphor to create a narrative that runs parallel, similar to the wo/man. Postmodernism theorists manage to align a narrative which is intended by the author (Barthes) with the concept of a metaphor which cannot be understood (Derrida).
Sherman’s series of photographs, Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) shows images of herself in which she ‘plays’ the character of a film actress in a black and white Hollywood movie. Importantly, she plays different characters, staged through different photos, as if she is offering us, the viewer, a choice. Or perhaps the variety on offer is part of her difficulty in choosing which character she wants to play? Christopher Butler suggests that ‘in the process we see her adapting discourses of film to present herself in a photographic still as all sorts of different people, but all (often satirical and parodic) versions of femininity are seen in the discourse of a mass medium.’ (Craig Owens, 1983, pp 53) So the question is: which photo represents Sherman, if any?
This raises further questions in the context of Baudrillard’s theory on simulacrum. Whilst the photographic image may represent a certain meaning, through our interpretation we can understand the image in four different stages: the ‘reflection of a basic reality’ (the Hollywood movie, a reality for some) into ‘masking and perverting a basic reality’(or Sherman’s feminist rhetoric against the original Hollywood movie) through to ‘marking the absence of a basic reality’ (Sherman playing her new identity, the parallel interpretation) finally ending in a photo which ‘bears no relation to any reality whatsoever, it is its own simulacrum’ (a photo, i.e. a black and white print of a negative which also some argue equals the original movie). (Baudrillard, 1983, pp 196) As Linda Hutcheon points out:
‘Perhaps the most inherently contradictory of all art forms, one which has therefore come into its own in postmodernism, is that of photography. (…) Postmodern photography foregrounds its inevitable identity as simulacrum in a special way, overtly offering both its obvious intertextuality and its undeniable nature as multiply reproducible mass media as challenges to “auratic” art and to the related humanist assumptions of subjectivity, authorship, singularity, originality, uniqueness and autonomy.’ (Linda Hutcheon, 1988, pp228)
However, both Enim’s and Sherman’s work, always raises an element of voyeuristic pleasure, and the continuous use of representations of the female body (Sherman) or elements of a sexual nature (Emin) reinforce this longstanding tradition of pre-modern art for which the gaze of the male was always present, a notion also present in a work by Kruger.
However, to imply that male gaze is always immoral would be unfair and to some extent undermines women’s own sexuality. When considering these feminists works, we should not just relate to their postmodern critical content, but whether these works can be considered good art? We can argue that in a aesthetic classification of ‘good and bad’, again the male opinion has been the dominant factor in the classification system, but the continuously repeated use of ‘weak mimicry of played-out signs, ideas and banal disgust’ (Matthew Kieran, 2005, pp 254) would ultimately undermine any aesthetic value in our appreciation of art.
Furthermore, with Emin for instance fully endorsed by the Saatchi empire some art critics deplore the artist who has turned into a global brand: ‘Tracy Emin has become a brand out of which her art is made. Such artists as brands are again allegorical figures that, like robots, deliver particular and predictable behaviour along with other outputs.’ (Julian Stallabrass, 2004, pp 145) The question remains in as far as the museums and galleries support the work because of its postmodern qualities, or because postmodernism has turned into an economic value, which attracts visitors and subsequent government subsidies. The ultimate irony, however, is that few women artists are actually represented, for instance, in competitions like the Turner prize: only 3 women have ever won the prize; from 1984–2007, only just under one third of artists have been short listed or commended (including collaborations) and 39% of jurors (excluding Directors) have been women. (4)
Whilst we can take a critical stance vis-à-vis postmodernism, the artists involved use a language which seems to both enable and disable them in getting a communicative process across. One must consider that a system of signs, as these artworks represent, are part of a culturally embedded system which without any form of semiotic agreement would not be comprehensible. When Enim/Sherman/Kruger uses a visual language exploring the female body, the imagery used is part of a (male focussed) Western tradition which, in a postmodern style, is being subverted. A feminist challenge will relate to sociological and historical conditions which may be shared with other marginalised groups such as homosexuals or ethnic minorities.
What postmodernism has achieved is for these artists to use a means of expression which until the emergence of modernism would not have been possible: photomontage, installation, pastiche, appropriation are today accepted means of artistic expression. The enduring element of these artists’ work is that they invite us on a journey, an exploration of the human condition and how we as individuals are defined by its essence and its boundaries.
Finally, the worldwide use of the internet and its associated technologies in today’s society may well change our concept of identity and self in a postmodern context. The voice of the marginalised is less silent, no longer restricted by the offerings of mainstream channels such as publishing, mass media and institutional art channels (museums, galleries). ‘The Web is an infinitely expandable, centerless, inter-connected information system’ (Martin Irvine, 2004-2009). Endless digital reproduction of images has created a simulacrum where nothing bears any resemblance, and everything can be taken out of context. Identities are interchangeable and multiple, and our ‘selves’ belong to virtual and real social networks, by force and by choice. No doubt this blurring of real and cyber identities will create new opportunities for artists, male and female, to develop new semiotic systems for expressing concepts around self and identity.
Footnotes
(1) For the purpose of this essay the term ‘self’ and ‘identity’ will be considered interchangeable. However, without going into further theoretical analysis, Christopher Butler (2002, pp 50) points out: ‘(…) the term preferred by postmodernists to apply to individuals is not so much ‘self’ as ‘subject’, because the latter term implicitly draws attention to the ‘subject-ed’ conditions of persons who are, whether they know it or not, ‘controlled’ (if you are on the left) or ‘constituted’ (if you are in the middle) by the ideologically motivated discourses of power which predominate in society they inhabit.’
(2) In a true Platonic interpretation, an unmade bed is most certainly an imitation, and not art whatsoever. For a critical review of Emin’s retrospective in the Scotsman, visit
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburghvisualartsfestival/Art-review-Tracey-Emin-20.4350747.jp
(3) The distinction between public and commercial gallery was made deliberately, yet both are part of an art world driven by global economics.
(4) Full statistical details are available from the Tate Modern website:
word count 2160 (including title and footnotes)
3/1/2010
References
Books
Butler, C. 2002. Postmodernism. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hutcheon, L. 1988. A Poetics of Postmodernism. History, Theory, Fiction. Routledge, Oxon, England.
Kieran, M. 2005. Revealing Art. Routledge, Oxon, England.
Stallabrass, J. 2004. Art incorporated. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Chapters
Baudrillard, Jean. 1993. The Evil Demon of Images and the Precession of Simulacra. In T. Docherty (Editor) Postmodernism, A Reader, Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hampstead, pp194-199.
Owens, Craig. 1985 The Discourse of Others: Feminists and Postmodernism. In H. Foster. (Editor)Postmodern Culture, Pluto Press, pp 57-82. First Published as The Anti-Aesthetic by Bay Press, Port Townsend, WA, USA, 1983.
Web references
Martin Irvine, 2004-2009. "The Postmodern, Postmodernism, Postmodernity: Approaches to Po-Mo.”