We covered Pop Art, a movement that involves the incorporation of preexisting popular materials, the recreation of this material (with methods that vary in degrees of intervention) to convey underlying messages involving societal involvement with the art. For Andy Warhol (arguably the most prominent figure of this art movement), his works centered around the relationship between the created popular media and human perception of famous figures (the Marilyn series) and with the mass-produced production of foods (as well as life, in extension).
Following this, for the first time in this course, we examined an artistic movement that rejects the historical, linear concept of constant bettering of society. This sense of deconstruction is the foundation of a new manner of approaching arts. Instead of putting the highlights on certain leading figures of one movement, which more often than not overshadows the artists that, depending on their identities and the time period, does not have the privilege to work in the arts and garner success. Postmodern arts shift the focus on the variation of identities in the arts, which allows space for voices that historically would have not been heard. Additionally, as there was no more need for an us vs them narrative (between the free world and the communist world), the social landscape also became freer for its inhabitants. Themes, styles, and mediums were more diverse than ever. Installation arts – like Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, in which famous female figures were given a spot on “the table”, represented by various works of different mediums, including those that might not be considered “fine arts” – also emerged during this period. We see a separation between the artists and the artwork in terms of the process of creation itself. The focus now is on the philosophical underpinnings, the ideological stance of the work, rather than merely how it might be created.