Deconstructing Post-Modernism
It’s much easier to destroy than it is to build.
Deconstructing Post-Modernism belongs to the following groups:
Painters In Modern Times - TWO PER DAY and Remodernist Painters' Group“…there is little reason not to believe that all value-orientations are equally well-founded. Therefore, increasingly, choice becomes meaningless… we must now come to terms with the second revolution, ...of postmodernity, which is the immense process of the destruction of meaning equal to the earlier destruction of appearances.”
- David Ashley, Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity,1990
Post-Modernism can not be described as a branch of Modernism in the same sense that movements like Ab-Ex, Pop, and Minimalism were. PoMo alone is avowedly all about the destruction of meaning in Art, which puts it in a class by itself.
Epistemology is defined as “The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity. “
(American Heritage Dictionary)
According to the epistemological doctrine of Post-Modernism, knowledge may be sought through many means including, for example, revelation (pre-modernist thought), empiricism, reason, and logic (modernist thought), and epistemological pluralism (post-modernist thought), there is, therefore, no ultimate truth and, thus, everything is of equal value (e.g., the concept of moral relativity). It is this latter transition to notions such as moral relativity that repels me.
The postulation that there may be no universal method of knowing (i.e., there is more than one valid epistemological approach) should not lead inexorably to the conclusion that all values are the same and that one set of values cannot or should not be judged better than another. I do not swallow this. Nor, I imagine, do the most thoughtful among the Post-Modernists. Unfortunately, however, most do. They often justify this by claiming that they need to complete the task of “deconstructing” (i.e. destroying) Modernism before they can begin to build constructive epistemologies as the cornerstone of a fully-functioning Post-Modernist paradigm.
I don’t think that they will ever attain that objective. It’s much easier to destroy than it is to build.
Remodernism is a response to the distance from meaning, beauty, and emotion that Post-Modernism has traveled. This is the heart of the matter.
Remodernism is meant to be more accessible for people and to give back to artists the right to express themselves and to communicate with their viewers on a person to person level.
The cynical argument is often made by the Post-Modernists that their movement is more “democratic”, since it holds all critical opinions to be of equal worth, and the artist’s intentions to be irrelevant. This is hypocrisy; the elitist Post-Modern clique is more full of pompous exclusivity and deliberate obfuscations than Late Modern Art ever was. They’re just a little bit more clever. Post-Modernism is actually all about intellectual one-upsmanship. It’s a pissing contest to see who can be the most nihilistically ironic.
It’s nearly impossible to recognize a Remodernist by their work. We’re used to an Art Movement being defined by a particular look (aka formal qualities). Cubism, Minimalism, Surrealism, etc. are instantly recognizable. Remodernism is not; it is a way of thinking about Art, and the purpose of Art, rather than a specific way of making art.
Another thing that seems painfully obvious is that artists’ works often fall short of their intentions, at least insofar as not every viewer will percieve the ‘spiritual’ quality of a particular work of Art, regardless of the artist’s stated intent. I often have this experience myself when looking at Remodernists’ work.
To quote David Cohen ”...I wouldn’t want to participate in a criticism the function of which would be to award brownie points for good intentions.”
I sincerely appreciate anyone’s participation in this discussion, and I’m delighted to answer any questions that you may have about Remodernism.
Mechellerene
To me, it’s my journey away from the cynical, and finding (clawing, some days) my way back to hope and beauty in the everyday of my existence. It may sound sappy and naive, but I feel it’s the only way I have to make a difference on this planet, by jarring myself awake and trying to break through all the sloganeering and fancey rhetoric that keeps feeding the hopelessness and negativity in our culture.
Not saying that exploring and exposing a lack of hope ,and the fallout of negativity- in art or writing-is a bad thing, in fact I think it’s being honest. But Post Modernism seems to have a shrug your shoulders “oh, well, that’s the way it is so…whatever (sigh)” mentality , that has really stalled people from pursuing (reaching for, straining towards) peace, hope, love, and acceptance. I have felt a bit numbed and threatened by PoMo’s tangle, and lack of anchoring.
I do know I need to clarify, and that this is very sloppy. Not trying to persuade anyone with this, just sharing a few thoughts that popped into my head after reading the above
Thanks for all your info. and insight Carson.
Margot Koefod
Carson,
you should seriously consider writing a book!
Oh, it feels so good to read those words you write .. HOPE…
I really think so many persons will benefit from your work, from all the remodernists works…
so let’s keep spread the Love..
it is kind of an emergency now and we must be united and strong,
you’re right it is easier to destroy than to build,but it is much more fulfilling to build than to destroy. And who said life is easy, who said happiness lies in easy ?.nobody I would trust!
MARTISTIC
I think that any sort of Nihilism is wasted energy, usually it comes from ideas of an intellectual elite (Who actually voted these people as the elite), who want to put themselves at the top of the heap by sprouting bullshit that few people can actually understand and I’m sure that if you really questioned them, they would be hard pushed to explain their ideas and motives in a way that real people can understand. I have read plenty over the years about different art movements, some of it sticks in my brain better than others, but I can only say that I really don’t understand half of what has come out in the end of the twentieth century, into the twenty first. Even the name Post Modernist is a ridiculous notion and I’m sorry to say that half a cow in formaldehyde or your unmade bed or some whining scribblings on your sex life aren’t art. I think it’s about time that the ‘elite’ woke up and realised that people want meaning in their art. I have always believed that art should create an emotive response in the viewer and it is the artists job to try and create this response. It seems obvious to me that the continual search for truths in art and the desire for spirituality in its broadest terms will long outlast any fads and fashions that have and will arise throughout history
Marcella Chestnut
Yeah! [sigh]
I’m home. [smile]
Brita Lee Mikl...
Hey Carson, thanks for pointing out so eloquently the white elephant in the room!
The Postmodernist view is also repellent in its implications for human rights. That’s where art and social commitment cross over and I think that art is basically a human activity so I reject its dehumanising of language and therefore art in p.m. So I reckon I might be a re-modernist too.
Your paintings are beautiful – really give the serenity and clarity of the ocean.
JohnScottArtist
The heading “deconstructing post modernism” is a post modernist theory. Post modernism is underpinned by “deconstrucion” and it’s close cousin, “relativism”.
Where the problem lay is with the Nihillistic aspect touted by the elite. A child can look out the window and see something “exists”. What the remodernists need to understand is we can’t go backwards and re create the same movement in terms couched by that movement last century.
What the next movement in art is anyones guess, but the nature of light must be understood by those who wish to venture beyond into the unknown. Light consists of 3 parts: outer, inner and secret. outer is what what our predecessors painted in all it’s multifareous forms, “inner” is where it’s now coming to it’s post modern end. The secret light aspect which is the most subtle is probably where we must go, and it is a real leap of understanding the subtle body system in it’s entirety which the artist needs to study, if there is to be forward movement.
Carson Collins
John,
I like your work. Can’t entirely agree with your comments on my essay “Deconstructing Post-Modernism” (for one thing, the title is intended to be ironic) but I certainly do agree with your statement, “Where the problem lay is with the Nihilistic aspect touted by the elite.”
Having studied your artwork, I think you’re a Remodernist and just don’t know it yet. ;-)
Anyway, please accept my sincere best wishes for your metaphysical investigation of light. You seem to have a fairly clear awareness of your own intentions, which is something that the great majority of artists, sadly, lack.
Peace and Love,
Carson
adamkissel
The part of faith in art seems to be in crisis. The constructing of a ‘canon’ of work that reflects one’s spiritual understandings and worldview has been jettisoned by postmodernists in favour of a nod towards the undercurrent of human (pre-apocalyptic) angst. The downward trend of art has been evidenced over recent centuries … from the early spatial hierarchy of God (in the upper third of the canvas) to the dethroning of deity and the intimated reverence for God… all in favour of enthroning man’s creation of man .. (the inauguration of depth psychology, science, materialistic idolatry, secular humanism, and man as the ‘measure of all things’ [sic] ). The current trend is to harness the palette and brush to the railroad of distortion … (an impending perversion of the scaffolds of moral certainties) to arrive at the station of expressions of experience reflected in human-animalistic, demonic, materialistic and depraved (now sub-human) ‘nihilisms’...
As the critics cleverly debate culture and ideology…. who has ever considered seriously the relevance of Christian faith expressed in art depicted in a manner outside the traditional ‘religiously hierarchial’ forms of stained glass, Roman Catholic iconography or the contemporary sloganistic USA Jesus clip art.. If beauty is in the Kingdom of God .. it is to be expected to be experienced. The remodernist reveals what the heart conceals…..Surprise…. Some artists are theologians too!