Modernism and Postmodernism - Essay Example

Postmodernism Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Postmodernism Postmodernism is a theory in art and architecture which has came about so as to solve the problems which were associated with the former modernism theory. Postmodernism deviates from the values of modernism (Milavanovic, 1995, p.2). In architecture, post modernism is said to be the agent of kindling wits, reference and ornaments, hence the glamour, meaning and sustainability associated with postmodern art work (Vermuelen,& Akker,2010, p.3). Robert venture is a famous postmodern architect whose works have continued to evolve a lot of interest up to date. Bruce Nauman is also a famous postmodern artist whose sculpture, video, neon, performance, photography and drawing works have earned him recognition globally. The works of the two artistes are relevant to postmodernism since they exhibit the characteristics of postmodernism. Postmodernism is associated with the following characteristics; appropriation, humour/playfulness, deconstruction, simulacra, self-reflexivity, eclecticism/pluralism, intertextuality and the fusion of high art work and low art work. Nauman’s works are characterized by humour, playfulness, irony and parody. On the other hand, Venturi’s works are characterized by pluralism, humour and deconstruction. The following paper compares the works of the two postmodern artistes, Robert Venturi and Bruce Nauman, with respect to the pluralism and humour associated with their works respectively. Robert Venturi is an architect who has been dubbed as the founder of postmodernism. Venturi was one of the architects who deviated from Modernist architecture in the 1950’s and assimilated aspects of postmodernism in his architectural designs (Kirby, 2006, p.1). His design of the Guild House, Philadelphia in 1950 gave the architectural world a feeling of what postmodernism could offer. Figure 1. Guild House (Guild House, 2012, p.1) As indicated earlier, postmodernism in architecture brought with it wits, ornament and reference which were associated with ancient architecture. As opposed to the modernism architecture, postmodernism architecture made vast use of symbols, aesthetics, meaning, hidden structure among others. In fact, there was no limit to what an architect could design since the limit was only determined by his creativity, imagination and his/her ability to explain his/her actions scientifically hence being able to give meaning (Kahl, 2008, p.55). For this reason, postmodernism gave birth to pluralism/ eclecticism which uphold the fact that there is no universal/ definite/ formal way of coming up with architectural designs, the complexity and form of the design only lays in the hand and mind of the architect. Being a strong believer of postmodernism, Robert Venturi gave a magnificent touch of pluralism in his works. Starting with the Guild House, Venturi deviated from the modernist approach of designing blocks for residential houses, instead of it; Venturi came up with a magnificent building which integrated aesthetics on its look, glass art on its windows and meaning in its form. Pluralism upholds the deviation from the formalized way of coming up with architectural designs. For this reason, Robert Venturi once said that ‘Great architects should not be graded according to the consistency of their works but by the quality of their work’. This further affirmed his stand of deviating from the formalized architectural practices for instance formalized shapes, designs and materials. This is implicated in all his works. The Venturi house was one of the most celebrated architectural designs of the 1960s. Robert had designed it for his mother in the year 1963, and it represents one of the few postmodern constructions. Venturi deviated from the formal designs of designing residential houses. Figure 2. Side view of the Venturi House (Hyatt Foundation, 2012, p.1) Figure 3. Front side of the Vienna House (Hyatt Foundation, 2012, p.1) Robert Venturi progressively exhibits pluralism in his other works. No work is completely similar to another, hence he lived up to his words since his greatness as an architect is not judged by his consistency, but by his ability to continuously produce unique works which fit the needs of the clients. The designing of the Episcopal Academy’s hall also illustrates the pluralism nature of Venturi’s works. The architect deviated from the normal church designs of formalized sitting arrangements, formalized pulpit location among other dictatorial aspects of modernist architectural church designs. Venture came up with a state of the art design which came with great visual appeal, creativity, great design, and still kept the cultural and ethical appeal of chapels. This was a masterpiece that earned him recognition in the architectural field. The following photograph shows the interior of Episcopal Academy’s Chapel. Figure 4. The Episcopal Academy Chapel (Tom Crane Photography, 2012, p.1) Taking a closer look at the chapel, one can help but notice the semi-circular sitting arrangement, which was a deviation from the straight, linear arrangement which was common with the modernist church designs. The pulpit is also placed at the mid-point, giving the congregation a better chance of following church services. The lighting in the chapel is also marvelous; Venturi makes use of natural light by a large extent. He designed large glass windows most of which were placed at the front of the church, just at pulpit, hence making the leaders of the service be easily seen by the congregation. To some extent, this is an act of showing transparency in church. The placing of the chapel’s symbolic cross is done just above the pulpits location. This coupled with the transparent glass design gives the chapel a religious appeal. This is a true a mark of pluralism. Other works by Robert Venturi which show pluralism include the designing of the Trabant Student Center in the University of Delaware and the design of Wu Hall in Princeton University. Even though the two buildings are located in institutions of higher learning, Venturi came up with completely different designs which fitted the specific requirements of the universities. Figure 5.Trabant student center in the University of Delaware (University of Delaware, 2012,p.1) Figure 6. Wu Hall in Princeton University (Structurae, 2012) In both of the design above, aesthetics is paramount and it can be seen by the magnificent glass work on the windows and the brickwork on the exterior walls. Trabant student centre is supported by magnificent pillars which bring in Avant Garde architecture and at the same time give the building an aesthetic value. Both represent pluralism at its best. Other works by Robert Venturi include the design of the Seattle Art Museum and the San Diego Museum, both of which are completely different in look. Venturi has also designed the Dumbarton Oaks Library in Harvard University, Provincial Capitol Building in France among many others. True to his words, he is a great architect, and does not follow any definite architectural design, but integrates many factors together and comes up with the buildings which later become landmarks (Rowe, H. 2011). On the other hand, Bruce Nauman is an artist who exhibits a lot of humour and playfulness in his art work. His works are somehow consistent, as compared to Robert Venturi’s designs. Bruce Nauman is as a Postmodernist American artist who specializes in performance, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, video production and neon displays. Nauman has a high sense of humour, irony, sarcasm and playfulness which he consequently transmitted to his art work (Holm, 2011, 1). Looking at several of his works indicates this fact. His humour and playfulness exhibits itself in his self portrait whereby he places himself as a fountain. Figure 7. Self Portrait Fountain (Filipa Esteves, 2012,.1) As he is a postmodernist artiste, he is a strong believer in that there is no limit as to how art should be done, hence his deviant art. The portrait shows Nauman himself as a fountain with water coming out of his mouth and his eyes glued at the trajectory of the water. His hands are put is a surrendering mode, which somehow means that he has no bad intentions (Johnson, 2012, p.1). Bruce Nauman’s neon signs and his works with light shows a lot of humour and playfulness (Ticha,2012, 53,). Nauman’s art work of a dark corridor which is illuminated sequentially by a light is used by the artist to show what art can do, and what neon/light signs can do to an organization. This is a magnificent piece of art which save for its artistic value; it also advertises Nauman’s works. Figure 8. Light Corridor (National Galleries Scotland, 2012) Nauman’s picture of a spinning cat with a stick pushed in it’s anus is another art work which illustrates his humour and irony. First, a cat can spin and specifically it has a stick shoved up its anus. The humorous picture received a lot of criticism from people in the world. However, Nauman was able to express his intention in coming up with the art piece. Figure 9. Spinning cat with a stick shoved up its anus (Sperone Westwater, 2012, P.1) Bruce Nauman’s performances are also coupled with a lot of humour and irony. Nauman was a strong bodily performance and violin artiste (Ploeger, 2012, p.1). His houmor is eminent I all hi performances hence his ability to attract a lot of audience. The following pictures show Nauman’s performances. His playful gestures can be seen. Figure 10, Pulling mouth (Electronic Arts Intermix, 2012, P.1) Figure 11, thumb positions. (Vogel, 2011, p.1) Equally so, Robert Venturi also expresses humour in his architectural designs although not at the same extent as Bruce Nauman. His interior design of Seattle Art Museum is humorous. It has a man with two sheep, who are posing as lions in front of him. The following picture illustrates this. Figure 12, Seattle Arts Museum (Seattle Arts Museum, 2012, p.1) In conclusion, postmodernism is about shunning away the formalized ways of doing things. Under the present context, it entails the transformation from practicing art in the conventional manner and adopting practices which are unique to an artiste. With respect to architecture, it is about designing buildings which do not possess the modernistic ideologies. This includes formalized shapes and designs. Among the characteristics of postmodernism are pluralism and humour/playfulness. Many postmodernist artists and architects uphold the need for liberalizing their fields of practice. Robert Venturi and Bruce Nauman who are architect and artist respectively have progressively transmitted their postmodernism way of tackling their professional field successfully. Robert Venturi is a famous architect who is known for spearheading postmodernism theory I architecture. An eminent characteristic of his works is pluralism, which upholds the fact that there is no definite/ formalized manner of designing architectural designs. On the other hand, Bruce Nauman is a great artiste renowned for his sculpture wok, drawings, performances, video and neon displays among others. On his side, Nauman displays humour, playfulness and irony in his works. With the analysis of some of the works of the two men in the paper, it is certain that the two artistes represent postmodernism in their works. References Holm, N. 2011. The Distribution Of Nonsensical And The Political Aesthetics Of Humour, Ranciere : Politics, Art &Sense, Vol.19, no.1, pp.1-13 Johnson, K.2012. Bruce Nauman: ‘One Hundred Fish Fountain, NewYorkTimes Aug 9, 2012. Kirby, A.2006. The Death of Postmodernism and Beyond, Philosophy Now, Vol.1, no. 1, pp.1-5 Kahl, D, 2008. Robert Venturi and his contributions to postmodern architecture, Oshkosh Scholar, Vol.3 no.1, pp.55-63 Milavanovic, D.1995.Dueling Paradigms: Modernist V. Postmodernist Thought, Humanity And Society.Vol.19, no.1, pp.1-22, Ploeger, D. 2012. Heightened awareness through simulated movement in multimedia performance, Body, pace &Technology Journal [Online] viewed on 15th September 2012 < http://people.brunel.ac.uk/bst/vol0901/danielploeger/home.html> Rowe, H. 2011.The Rise and Fall of Modernist Architecture, Student Pulse. Vol.3, no.4, pp.1-1 Ticha, J.2012.The Stone Modernism And Visual Weakness Of Digital Age. Autoportret, Vol.1, no.36, pp.53-58 Vogel, C.2011. 2 Continents, 1 Work and 31 Hand Positions, Inside Art, New York Times, July 7,2011 Vermuelen, T & Akker, R. 2010. Notes on Metamodernism, Journal Of Aesthetics And Culture, Vol.2, no.1, pp.1-1 References for Figures Figure 1 (Guildhouse, 2012. Photographs of Guildhouse, Viewed on 15th September 2012 < http://www.google.co.ke/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/1878737836_2a42873ac1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/guildhouse/Interesting&usg=__dTvq3s-v9ODR4gcAyceG8qKE6ss=&h=333&w=500&sz=81&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&tbnid=8JQUpL85URQLHM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&ei=_yBTUOv5LeKw0AWbkIGgBg&itbs=1) Figure 2 (Hyatt Foundation, 2012. Venturi House, Viewed on 15th August 2012.http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1991/works) Figure 3 (Hyatt Foundation, 2012. Venturi House, Viewed on 15th August 2012.http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1991/works)) Figure 4 (Tom Crane Photography, 2012. The Episcopal Academy Chapel, Viewed on 15th September 2012 https://www.google.co.ke/search?q=The+Episcopal+Academy+Chapel&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=7Zv&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8p5UUJy6AY-KhQfIo4GwDw&ved=0CCUQsAQ&biw=1400&bih=887) Figure 5 (University of Delaware, 2012. Trabant student center in the University of Delaware, Viewed on 15th September 2012 Figure 6 (Structurae, 2012. Wu Hall in Princeton University , Viewed on 15th September 2012 http://www.google.co.ke/imgres?imgurl=http://files2.structurae.de/files/photos/1/20080619/dsc05552_shift.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.structurae.de/photos/index.cfm%3Fid%3D114626&usg=__ORxSHKm3CDi4jrxyAAgkIA2622c=&h=429&w=600&sz=85&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&tbnid=yVQadtYcIiwmEM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=135&ei=uKFUUKlfjoaFB6bZgfAL&itbs=1) Figure 7 (Filipa Esteves, 2012.Self Portratit Fountain , Viewed on 15th September 2012 http://www.google.co.ke/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JkOeNwYwyHw/TqrjpRT0HQI/AAAAAAAAALQ/IM0Gftm7_Kg/s1600/bruce%252Bnauman%25252C%252Bthe%252Bfountain.jpg&imgrefurl=http://filipaesteves.blogspot.com/&usg=__Gev9rlh7_6CcVBvZTm8hbnhiz4Q=&h=321&w=378&sz=58&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=iTSHrLj7T9j4uM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=122&ei=YaJUUNLXDMW6hAfY74CwCA&itbs=1) Figure 8 (National Galleries Scotland, 2012. Dark Corridor, Viewed on 15th September 2012 http://www.google.co.ke/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media/42/collection/AR00044.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/N/18242/artist_name/Bruce%2520Nauman/record_id/8133&usg=__YM4yc4V72MSd05KQkbNhnoTfwjM=&h=703&w=540&sz=31&hl=en&start=4&zoom=1&tbnid=1paBdWByJwQRlM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=108&ei=yKJUUKyJHY2xhAeLpYDQAg&itbs=1) Figure 9. (Sperone Westwater, 2012. Works , Viewed on 15th September 2012 < http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/works/record.html?record=1567 >) Figure 10 (Electronic Arts Intermix, 2012. Puling Mouth, Viewed on 15th September 2012 . http://www.eai.org/title.htm?id=1249 ) Figure 11 (Vogel, C.2011. 2 Continents, 1 Work and 31 Hand Positions, Inside Art, New York Times, July7,2011) Figure 12. (Seattle Arts Museum, 2012. SAM, Viewed on 15th September 2012 http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/) Read More