HUMANITIES: A Travelogue in Art - From Paleolithic to Postmodernism (Part 2)

 Humanities

A Travelogue in Art 

- From Paleolithic to Postmodernism (Part 2)

Scientific and technological breakthroughs changed the way we live, and brought us too soon into a postmodern era.  Art has proliferated into various theories, and each theory cannot be judged as right or wrong. So with its direction, and its multi-facet expressions.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

As industrialization stimulated economy, towns and cities grew, people traveled or migrated, and population rapidly increased. Art found a new expression - abstract art.  Pablo Picasso, is perhaps the most prominent leader in this movement. His mural Guernica in the Basque territory had cleverly hidden messages that helped Spain resist the threat of Germany. Picasso’s art spanned three generations and evolved into several art movements, challenging tradition and convention, and influencing global art more than any artist did.

Picasso's Guernica mural
Scientific and technological breakthrough changed the world, so with art. Splitting of the Atom brought Armageddon and persistent fear to mankind. The invention of the microchip shrunk the world with modern communication - radio and television, and the Internet, resulting in an explosion of knowledge, while trespassing into personal life and privacy. The breaking of the Code of Life gave rise to genetic engineering which can clone life, and change natural evolution. These conditions have set a new movement in the art tied with post-modernism. If man is virtually living ahead of his time, what could be his art?

Art indeed has proliferated into theories, and each theory cannot be judged as right or wrong. So with its direction, and its multi-facet expressions. Here are developments in the art in our postmodern time.

1. Art and Modern Super Structures – The ancient wonders of the world are now dwarfed by mega structures like the Eiffel Tower (France), Brooklyn Bridge (USA), Panama Canal, Chunnel (tunnel linking France and Great Britain across the English Channel), and Petronas Twin Tower (Malaysia), Aswan Dam (Egypt), to name a few.

Photography as art. Fish-eye view of a forest, and underwater view of a coral reef, setting of Finding Nemo a popular animae movie

2. Photographic Art – The camera and its accessories are now easily accessible. These include programs for photo editing and publication. The versatility of photography is in its advance technology, linking it with advertisement, digital art, communication and media. Photography is a “short cut to art” which makes its classification controversial. With the computer, a photograph can be converted into various forms and interpretations. But such result emanates mainly from the versatility of the machine rather than the operator. Photography has taken over the former function of art in portraiture and documentation.

3. Art and Media – Media art reaches the far ends of the globe, from print to satellite communications. With cellphones, and multi-media equipment make people participate in the arts as performers and audience. Media is everywhere every day. Music can be produced any time. TV programs through cable brings in a flood of information and entertainment. Media has revolutionized schooling through Distance Learning (Open University) and communications (e-mail, e-libing, e-commerce, e-learning, and the like)

4. Function-and-Beauty – The role of art in industry and trade is that it enhances the desirability of a product or service. It is akin to advertisement, but it is actually function and beauty combined that sells. For example, a car’s sleek design is functionally aerodynamics, tools and equipment are ergonomically designed. More and more houses, roads, bridges, parks, and the like exhibit the element of function-and-beauty.

5. Thrash Art – Art from recycled materials is practical, and it sends an ecological message, that touches people’s sensitivity and conscience amidst worsening pollution. Thrash art may be a sculptural piece made of metal scraps (art), or it could be an all-purpose bag from recycled fruit juice packages (craft). The former is an example of high level art (aesthetic, and to any extent, a philosophy), while the other product is considered as low-level art (craft, which is more of its function than mere aesthetics.)
Example of thrash art with surreal theme (From the Internet) 

6. Avant-garde and Graffiti art on walls, trains, buses, fences, sidewalks, and other places is often associated with vandalism, and reflects deterioration of values. To many people it would be shocking to consider it as art. It reflects radicalism, although the claim is that art – whatever art takes - is free expression and of thought in whatever style or symbols. Based on conventional criteria, avant-garde and graffiti art is simply not art at all. And yet, it flourishes, which could only mean that art evolves even outside the realms of art itself, apparently a characteristic of postmodern trends. 
 
Views of graffiti art on the Berlin wall (West and East side, respectively)
7. Classical and Contemporary Art – Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote topped the world’s best novels, with Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere ranked closely behind. The works of Shakespeare and Browning once topped the list of classical poetry, and in music, the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky. In painting, the names Rembrandt, Goya, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo are regarded institutions.  So with our own Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo. The timelessness of classics is being overshadowed by neo-classical and contemporary works, although the classics remain as undying models even with the march of time and progress, and new movements creating diverse pieces of art that go with postmodern life.

8. Art and Extremism. Going back to basics draws art to fundamental themes and techniques. But fundamentalism may turn to isolationism. Art is never subservient to either. On the other hand, radicalism could ignite controversy, such as the recent art exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines lampooning Christ and desecrating holy objects. The exhibit drew ire from both religious and clergy. Art cannot be detached from morals, more so with ethics. It cannot be amoral or neutral to values.

 9. Body Art
 Body tattooing is a primitive art.  The Maoris of New Zeland, the aborigines of Australia and New Guinea, the Zulus of Africa, and other cultures pride themselves with this body art for the purpose of identifying their tribes and social status, and as part of their cultural traditions and beliefs. 

When we were kids tattoo was associated with prisoners. It was a pastime of those in the correctional.  An ex-convict would then carry around this trademark casting fear or caution as he moved around the community.

Occult or craft,  tattooing was for decades an isolated form of art - if ever it was regarded as art.  Then in the later part of the last century body art began to capture the imagination of the fashion and entertainment world. Today body art has assumed to virtually endless forms from simple body markings and costumes to cult symbols and art movement in itself.
 


Top, left, clockwise: Tattoo takes over clothes in a fashion show; nature art in tattoo; multiple body piercing; man-and-beast representation.

 10. Instant Art – Those who have watched Avatar or Starwars may wonder at the versatility of these movies. The truth is, many of the scenes were studio-generated and faked. Another aspect of instant art is pirating (piracy of intellectual property), and packaging such as “canned” nature (Gubat sa Siudad, Fantasyland). There is a proliferation of amusements, and mass production of art works legal or illegal. It is a trend in our postmodern life to go for instant things like photo shoot, tarpaulin billboards, e-publishing, DVD movies, and MP3 music. Similarly there is trend in food (fast food), on the dance floor (maskipop), on the karaoke (Minus One). But there is no need to change the definition of art. It is like separating the grains from the chaff, so to speak, and know what is art and is not. The essence and purpose of art will never change.

No time in history has art found its widest application than it is today. Its enormous variety serve people of all ages, singly or collectively, in various occasions and events, touching their lives, tapping their talents, arousing their feelings, stimulating them to think and imagine . And to create the most wonderful things that constitute their own masterpieces. This is the challenge of art today and if these can relate to the betterment of humanity, then we say, art is humanities. ~ (AVR 11-1-11) 

The author drew a lot of ideas in the art from his travels visiting museums like The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, The Mexican Museum in Mexico City, The Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, The Vietnam Museum in HoChiMinh City, Taiwan’s Tunnel Museum in Taipei, The Forbidden City in Beijing, The Grand Palace in Bangkok, The Vatican in Rome, and of course, our own National Museum.
Source of this article: Humanities Today - An  Experiential Approach by M Doria and AV Rotor,  C and E Publishing Co. 2011

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