What is modern art?

Modern Art

The disintegration of modern art originated from Western art along the ancient Mediterranean coast (Egypt, Greece, West Asia). By the late 19th century, there were signs of change, and this sign entered the 20th century. Century later, it became the mainstream of Western art. This is Western modern art.

Western modern art can be regarded as a building. Composed of various types of visual styles, the building was built on the basis of science and rationality. This is the core of Western thought and culture for hundreds of years, and it is also something we are relatively lacking here. Westerners have made rapid progress in technology and social management with this; but it also brings limitations, which inhibits part of the vitality of life, such as the relationship between men and women. Joy is inseparable from natural attraction. If you only consider and calculate from the perspective of position, income, and family status, you will have a rational attitude, but your emotions will be affected. Therefore, when it comes to human emotions and spirituality, we cannot just listen to science.

The creation of modern art is inseparable from scientific thought, structuralism and Cubism, industrial technology thought and Futurism, De Stijl, mechanical manufacturing form and Dadaist mechanical drawings and paintings, Freud The dream interpretation theory and Surrealism, as well as Abstract Expressionism, which uses rational techniques to express irrationality, etc., are all the result of the cooperation between science and art. People regard artistic creation as a regular and followable process of creation. , In this way, the artist produces drawings and the factory produces artwork according to the drawings, which becomes a reasonable and reasonable art creation process. This is what the United States looked like after 1960. At that time, many artists were engaged in various industrial and material experiments, inventing new synthetic materials, using mechanical devices as the power system of their works, and sound, light and electromagnetism becoming new artistic resources. The following artistic activities can illustrate the situation at that time :

(1) Optical effect art (OPArt), which is a kind of psychological experimental art based on optical knowledge. The creator creates dynamic light and color effects through accurately corrected colors and geometric shapes, which represents The artists are Bridgei Riley and Vasa-relev.

(2) Very little art (nIlnlnlallsn1), the prominent feature is the industrial production of artworks, the pursuit of mathematical accuracy, the representative figure is Donald Judd, and the works are usually repetitions of the same units .

(3) "Kinetic Art" (Kinetic Art), there are many representatives, such as the Swiss Jean Tit-ian, who produced a variant painting machine for the first Paris Biennale Created a "morphous car with scent and sound"; Len Iye created a delicately balanced movable sculpture, and so on.

(4) Light sculpture (Lighi Ari) is another development direction of sculpture, its form is similar to neon advertisements. The representative figure is the young artist Dan Fla-vin.

(5) In 1966, the New York Armory held the "Art and Engineering" experimental exhibition, which displayed many artworks designed by high-tech means, and thus led to close cooperation between artists and scientific and technological workers. The 'Art and Technology Experiment' organization was subsequently established, with 3,000 people participating.

There are more similar activities that frequently appear around the world, forming a trend. For example, the New York Museum of Modern Art has "Machine" The Whitney Museum has a "Light" exhibition, London has a "Mechanical Power" art exhibition, Los Angeles has an "Industry" exhibition, etc. The power of science and technology has developed from intervening in art to dominating art, and Western modern art is relying on science. While power creates new achievements, it also puts oneself on the road of no return.

The following artists are representatives of the combination of art and industry in the 1960s:

(1) Color surface abstraction. Painter Newman (Barnetr-man) produces single color blocks in an almost constant repetition

(2) Metal sculptor David Smith (1906-65) worked on military tanks in his early years. He worked as a welder in a factory and later developed a kind of steel sculpture. This kind of sculpture provides the audience with its mechanical quality without practical function.

(3) Action art is combined with color abstraction. The painter Frankenthaler (Ftankenthaler, 1928-) reused the resources of abstract expressionism and turned art into the expression of some physical information. (4) Black stripe painter Lixlla (Frank: tLixlla, 1936-), Use copper and aluminum to explore different shapes of canvas linings, mostly rectangular and prismatic, to create large-scale, color-coded works.

2. The nature of modern art. Some scholars have considered the history of Western art. It can be summarized into three stages, namely: pre-modern, modern...post-modern. In this periodization method, all art determines its time period around "modernity", and "modernity" becomes the coordinate for dividing history. This periodization method is ruthless. It's simple and easy to remember, so we might as well use it.

NaOki SakiIJi, a Japanese literary theorist living in the United States, said in an article about Japanese postmodern culture: "The sequence of premodern-modern-postmodern implies a temporal order. We It must be remembered that this order has always been integrated with the geopolitical structure of the modern world, and it is now well known that this order is basically the historical framework of the nineteenth century through which people understand nations, cultures, and traditions. and the position of race in this system." The division of historical stages is not purely temporal, but is entangled with space. This means that at the same time, different regions may be in different stages of civilization; for example, in the 19th century, China was a feudal imperial country, while the West had already entered capitalism. Therefore, some people say that all contemporary art is It's contemporary art: That's wrong. Many of the art works that appear in our national exhibitions now do not have the characteristics of contemporary art, or even modern art. This is the result of the regional differences between the East and the West.

Whether it is "pre-modern" or "post-modern", it is a view that can only be generated after comparing with "modern". Understanding what "modern" is is the prerequisite for such comparison. We can understand the reasons for the transformation of "modern art" from two perspectives.

One is the perspective of style and form, which is a concept of quantity. Theoretically, we can calculate the number of visual forms and styles created during the stage of Western modernism. This number is huge, exceeding by multiples any previous era, and it is also a number that cannot be matched by the total number of existing art forms and styles in China.

The other is the perspective of value. The so-called value is the standard for judging what is good and what is bad. Value is a qualitative concept and is of great importance. Different values ??lead to different evaluation results. For example, if you look at today's Chinese paintings with the values ??of Ming and Qing literati, you will think that the present is not as good as it used to be.

Looking at modern art from a quantitative perspective, we will find that Western artists have developed from multiple perspectives in just over half a century. The all-round spirit of exploration has put into practice various possibilities for the transformation of art forms (easel art), leaving little room for future generations to explore. The revolution has been successful, and comrades do not need to work hard. Later artists have to find another way.

Looking at modern art from a value perspective, we will find that it basically belongs to the category of elite culture, which can adhere to the integrity of elegant art and disdain to associate with the commonplace. This concept, by its nature, is historically A derivative of aristocratic culture, but society has changed. The spiritual aristocrats have lost their hereditary territory and have no choice but to struggle in the world.

Specifically, the values ??of modern art are reflected in the following aspects:

(1) Pursuit of purity. Modern art pursues the purity of visual products, only considers formal elements in creation, and ignores the involvement of other factors, such as history, religion, literature, etc., thus promoting the development of abstract art. Generally speaking, the pursuit of purely elitist and expert ideas has limitations and is tantamount to drawing a tightrope.

(2) Promote originality, which is to apply the standards of sports competition to art, and regard artistic creation as a record-breaking competition in the history of art. However, sports are about survival of the fittest, which is not the case in art. Development is not progress, it is change. For example, you cannot say that Rembrandt is inferior just because there is Picasso.

(3) Putting form first, attaching importance to form is not a unique habit of modern art. Classical art also pays great attention to the sense of form, but the form of classical art obeys the expression of content, or in other words, form is hidden behind the image. Modern art is about form for form's sake, giving form independent value and function.

(4) It is called self-centeredness. Modern artists often work behind closed doors to express themselves without considering the audience. They often distinguish themselves through weird behaviors and strange costumes. Therefore, their works are also very personal and difficult to understand. This has helped art critics gain the privilege of interpreting such works. .

(5) Overall monotonous. This means that during the popular period of modern art, all non-modern works, such as traditional realistic techniques, works with national and regional characteristics, and works from non-developed countries, were rejected, causing artists around the world to use "cross-border language". This has resulted in a certain degree of global artistic language poverty.

From the above aspects, we can understand that it is natural for forces to oppose it.

3. The emergence of post-modern art The forces opposing modern art did not appear in the 1960s.

Just when the power of science and technology swept everything away, and elitist and purified art was exhausted, new artistic activities emerged. These activities were so different from the trends at that time that they actually caused Western art to turn around and open up a new world. situation. The following are several new art activities that emerged at that time:

(1) Land Art (Land Art or Earth Art) can be seen as the result of the development of indoor installation works to the outdoors. The earliest styles can be traced back to ancient times. The Pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge Circle of England, while the vast expanses of the Americas provide a stage for contemporary artists to showcase their talents. Using deserts, mountains and grasslands as raw materials, modifying or adding huge geometric forms is an early feature of land art.

The most famous work is Robert Smithson's "Spiral Breakwater". This embankment is 15 feet wide. The audience can walk along the embankment several times, but otherwise has no practical function.

(2) Installation art (InstallatiOn) is a kind of non-art wood material. Three-dimensional exhibits that can be temporarily displayed indoors, very few of which are also collected by museums. It is a method of arranging exhibits rather than artistic features or styles, so it can serve many art schools. The original installation was derived from the abandonment of traditional sculptural materials, and its main definition is: "(1) They are assembled, not drawn, shaped or carved; (2) All or part of their constituent elements are Preformed natural or artificial materials, objects or fragments not intended for use as artistic materials.” The representative of early installation art was the German Dada artist Kllrt Schw-Itter, who filled his house with various materials in the 1920s.

(3) Body art (BodV art) is when the creator uses his own body as a material for artistic expression, combined with painting, photography, video or other on-site recording methods. A kind of non-dramatic performance art formed. "Non-dramatic" refers to the absence of fiction, performance and contrived elements. For example, Barry Le Va's work involves running back and forth between two walls more than ten meters apart until he collapses from exhaustion. Another, Vito Acconci, was once a poet and had masochistic tendencies. For example, he tried hard to bite any part of his body that he could bite, and would not stop until he left a mark. He also masturbated in public. , and set up loudspeakers to spread the sound, forcing the public to become "voyeurs" in an attempt to break social taboos. There is also Chris Burden, who is even more of a masochist. His masterpiece "Five Days of Imprisonment" involves locking himself in an iron box for five consecutive days; his other masterpiece "Shooting" involves having his friend shoot his left arm from a distance of dagger feet. This shocking technique earned him immediate success. gained world reputation.

(4) ConceptuaI Art, derived from Dada art in the early 1920s, believes that art has no sacred and lasting value. Its essence is ideas or concepts, and specific works in physical form are not It is not important, so it is also called Idea art, Post Object art or De-materialized art. It is a written material used to record thoughts or a photographic record of an event. It is conceptual art. common forms. Conceptualist artists explore the relationship between art and thought or art and knowledge. The end point of this inquiry is text, mathematics, or aesthetics and philosophy. Logically speaking, this kind of work is not actually for viewing. Traditional exhibitions Out of form not applicable. However, it is still a long-standing problem to display inner thoughts while avoiding external forms. Those works that are regarded as conceptual art are mostly temporary installations displayed in art galleries and other public places, such as randomly stacking some Wood, bricks, or other debris. One example is a giant birdcage with live birds and other objects on display in an art gallery. There is also a conceptual art group of people who write essays. Representative figures include Joseph Kosuth, MeI Bochner and Hanne DarbOven.

(5) Process art (Process art) believes that the production process of art is more important than the prior conception. It is better to experience the passage of time than to watch static and lasting objects. It strives to express the fleeting existence of the moment. This This kind of art mostly uses soft materials that can easily reflect changes in time. The original source is the accidental splattering of paint by Pollock and de Kooning during their creation. The creative process is mostly the author's arbitrary changes to the exhibited materials. The representative figure is Robert Morris. One of his works is to pile up some mixed materials of no value in the exhibition hall. He changes the placement of these materials every day and collects them and throws them away at the end of the exhibition.

With the above activities, there have been two opposite development trends in Western art since then. One is pure art, which allows art to maintain its independent character to distinguish it from other things. In pure art, there are clear qualitative definitions of what is painting and what is sculpture. Another trend is to confuse the boundaries between art and non-art, especially the difference between art and life. The so-called "purity" of the former art is exactly what the latter art strives to reject. The reason for rejection is that the essence of art is to inspire creativity, and artificially dividing the scope of art is a constraint on creativity. Only when art and life are integrated can the creativity of art be reflected to the widest extent. .

New artistic ideas spread rapidly. Around the time they arrived in Sichuan, American art magazines were no longer full of plastic steel and geometric shapes, but natural materials, the process of action, the environment and the introduction of the audience. People, semantic analysis, and photographic records have gradually become the main reporting content of art media.

At this point, the concepts, methods and forms of modern art have undergone major changes. What people call postmodern art began at this time. The change of art officials is not a military handover. The situation will form two completely different ends. The so-called new and old, the ending and the beginning, often exist at the same time. However, for the convenience of narrative, the commentators are accustomed to separate the entangled facts. Therefore, we often see scholars talking about many There are many theories about the beginning of the so-called genre movement. This article discusses postmodern art. Because if we have to deliberately look for the order of the passage of time, we cannot take into account the division of space at the same time. This is something that readers should pay attention to.

There are many reasons why Western modern art did not change its form in the 1960s, which are generally considered to be related to the following social background:

(1) The failure of the United States in the Vietnam War led to sentiment against the war growth, coupled with the changing international environment, people do not have much hope for human society and real life, and further begin to despise the existing standards of human life1. There is a tendency to go against the mainstream and deny eternal values ??in the cultural field.

(2) What are the side effects of industrial development. Industrial progress has shown bright prospects to human society, but the side effects are becoming more and more obvious, including environmental pollution, energy shortages, toxic waste, and the dangers of nuclear weapons. People realize that while science and technology solve some problems, they also bring about New problems emerged, and people began to clearly look at the pros and cons of industrial progress, and began to doubt scientific methods.

(3) Social problems are prominent, rich material life cannot solve spiritual problems, and the "Beat Generation" emerged after the war. In 1968, there was an upsurge of student movements in Europe and the United States.

(4) The emergence of new ideas. Many philosophers in Europe have put forward new views on contemporary culture, thus having an impact on the art world. These philosophers include Roland Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard and others. The theory of Dou Xue raises doubts and concerns various cultural forms, leading people to doubt any single theoretical framework and ultimate judgment. In the field of art, it reaffirms the value of concreteness, thus leading to the separation from modern art that pursues metaphysics.

In addition to the above-mentioned external factors, excessive rationality and technology are the internal reasons for the change in artistic direction. It is necessary to know that the human spiritual world is the same as the natural ecology, which is both ever-changing and balanced. If one of them develops excessively, there will be an opposite force to overcome it. If science interferes mostly with art, anti-scientific forces will emerge.

4. Values ??of Postmodern Art Since the 1980s, with the United States as the center, postmodern art has been surging and become a new worldwide art trend. Looking at these artistic phenomena comprehensively, we can clearly perceive the new value growing now, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

(1) Without pursuing purity, contemporary art is not limited to visual forms, language, text, Musical theatre, mass media. Digital shadows, sound and light are all used as long as they can convey specific information. Paintings transcend the limitations of planes, sculptures integrate landscapes and buildings, and exhibition venues are not limited to galleries or museums. In the contemporary West, so-called visual art has It is difficult to distinguish it from other categories of art.

(2) Serve the tradition well. Human beings have rich traditional cultural resources, and it would be a pity to abandon them. Contemporary artists do not oppose tradition, but use the past to renew themselves. After time and environment change, old symbols may have new meanings, such as the "Book of Heaven" of ice separation, and Cai Guo-Qiang's "Grass Boat Cherishing Arrows". That's all.

(3) Impersonality, above art, except for the period from the late 19th century to the middle of the 19th century, "personal expression" was not the main goal of creation. Postmodern art emphasizes social functions. , making art step out of the ivory tower and close to the lives of the public. Artists take the world as their own responsibility, care about social issues, actively participate in social activities, and are no longer independent figures.

(4) Multiple standards. "Pluralism" is the core concept of contemporary art. Although there are still mainstream art trends in the world, unified standards are no longer used to judge merits, such as recognizing differences. The value of art of a country, nation, region, women’s art, indigenous art, art of non-developed countries are valued, etc. However, this resulted in a complicated and chaotic situation that was difficult to systematize.

Based on the above discussion, perhaps we can have a rough understanding of postmodern art: it originated from the rebellion against modern art, developed new methods of expressing thoughts and transmitting information, changes in concepts, technology The transformation of art, as well as the public consciousness, pluralistic values ??and free creative spirit it represents, embodies the development trend of contemporary Western culture. However, due to differences in region, culture and system, the Chinese art world cannot yet adopt an overall appearance in a short period of time. Integrating into this global art movement does not prevent the growth of new art factors, nor does it prevent us from gaining knowledge of Western contemporary art from a common sense perspective.

5. Duchamp’s inspiration When talking about the topic of Western post-modern art, we must mention the French painter Marcel Duchamp, who is described as the father of Western post-modern art. Understanding his art and life is of great help in understanding many wonderful phenomena of Western post-modern art, but understanding Duchamp is a difficult problem) because his works and life are too far away from ordinary people; it is difficult to explain reasonably.

Although Duchamp's artistic practice ended in the 1930s. He died in 1968, but his short-lived artistic activities during the dry period had a lasting influence later on. In 1913, he completed his first ready-made art "Bicycle Wheel" to express his contempt for the emphasis on structure in traditional works. And suggests that the most important factor in artistic creation is concept rather than production skills. "Chocolate Grinder No. 8" is almost Duchamp's last easel work, a mockery of academic oil painting. Duchamp settled in New York after 1915, and completed "Fountain" in 1917, which is a urinal; another work is L.II.O.O.Q, (1919), which adds a mustache to the printed "Mona Lisa". Duchamp's most important work is "The Big Glass", also known as "The Bride Stripped Naked by Her Man". This work began in 1915 and was still unfinished in 1923. After 1920, Duchamp's interest in optics and film increased day by day. After the Sichuan era, he turned his interest to chess.

Duchamp's most important contribution is "readymade" art. Although from a secular perspective, it is absurd to put ready-made industrial products or other objects in art exhibitions, in fact it has changed mankind's entire view of art and even the world, and people have begun to question traditional values. The necessity of concepts and modes of artistic creation, at least. In Western postmodern art, the influence of "readymades" is everywhere and inspires people from the following aspects:

(1) Neither form nor beauty is important. Since ancient times, artists have regarded creating beautiful forms as their bounden duty, and have given such work a high status and value. But Duchamp believed that beauty does not exist, and there is nothing particularly noble about art and the people who create it. He told people that there is no difference between ordinary objects and works of art. If art is beautiful, then ordinary objects are also beautiful. If ordinary objects are not beautiful, , then art is not much better. The so-called aesthetic value of art is just people’s prejudice. He brought the "urinal" to the exhibition and played a big role in breaking this stereotype.

(2) Environment and time are more important than the work. The decisive factors for turning the finished product into a work of art are environment and time. It has nothing to do with the work itself. This shows that under certain conditions. Anything and even behavior can be art; it can also be said conversely that when conditions change, anything and even behavior can not be art. According to Chinese saying, this is the same right and wrong, and that is the same right and wrong, because the environment and time are always present. Mobile buttons are changing, so in the 20th century, the classic Renaissance "Mona Lisa" could be painted with a mustache and become a joke; chimney wheels and stools were put into art galleries, and they were equivalent to structuralist sculptures.

(3) Bring art back to its spontaneous and natural state. Human beings’ initial artistic activities are spontaneous and natural, requiring no special training, and there is no distinction between artists and non-artists. But later there was a division of labor, and art became a specialized job, and therefore there were special standards for art. Obviously, this division of labor and standards are the product of past systems. It is detrimental to the development of sound human nature. If social conditions change, it would be unreasonable to still treat these existing standards as supreme laws that require people to abide by. "Ready-made art" means completely ignoring existing artistic standards and even cultural standards. , with a seemingly funny but actually quite profound thought, mocks the restraint and craftsmanship of human beings in the cultural field, thereby calling for the arrival of a new era rich in free and creative spirit.

(4) It is called the abolition of technical restrictions. People have long been accustomed to viewing artistic creation as a specialized technical operation process. That is why there are art academies and professional painters. However, "ready-made" art is different from The author's personal skills have nothing to do with it, it only requires a vision of selection, and selection is a thinking process that has nothing to do with the technology of making material products. Duchamp told people here that the value of art lies in thought. With thought, any material product can become a work of art. This approach of equating art with thought objectively cancels the art discipline in the traditional sense, and implies the theoretical judgment that art and art history are about to end.

The American painter De Koonig said: "Duchamp alone started a movement - a truly modern movement, which implies everything: every artist can learn from him I got inspiration there." He easily changed the direction of the development of Western art with "readymades" that seemed to be picked up at random. He was the pioneer image that Duchamp left to future generations. After Duchamp, he opposed all established artistic models and evaluation standards, and took the unencumbered spirit of freedom as the goal of artistic creation, which became the common sense in the Western art world.