Postmodernism is a movement of art that emerged in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Among all art movements, this one is considered to be the most controversial (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014). This movement defies definition and is said to have fundamentally introduced an unstable mix of theoretical and theatrical. It was majorly multifaceted and was characterized by elements ranging from the luxurious to the completely ridiculous (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014). This new brand of art is considered to have shattered some of the previously established ideas and styles as well as generally introducing radical freedom to the discipline of art and design. It did this by introducing gestures that ranged from being simply absurd, to being funny and to even being confrontational (Aylesworth, 2005). Postmodernism generally peaked during the 1980s and many “postmodern artists” emerged during this period. The genre has continued evolving and currently; there are several artists out there whose works are generally considered to be synonymous to postmodernism.
A great deal has been written about postmodernism and its main characteristics. One of the people who is considered to have been a pioneer in regard to literature on postmodernism is Jean-Francois Lyotard. His 1979 publication was entitled “The Post-Modern Condition”. He would later go on to write several other works related to this genre of postmodernism including the 1992’s “Answer to the Question: What is Postmodern? ”. In all these publications, Lyotard explores various features and characteristics of postmodernism. The aim of this essay is to compare some of Lyotard’s claims about postmodernism with the works of a current artist who is often categorized as a postmodernism artist –the British graffiti and street artist, Banksy. The essay will aim to show that Lyotard as a postmodernist supporter would not like Banksy’s work (even if much of his work’s features depict him as a postmodernist artist) since Lyotard finds problems with Banksy’s work that are related to modernist and realist approaches.
Bansky is considered in some circles to be a revolutionary postmodernism artist. For example, some see him as a subversive street artist, an existentialist and even as vandal (Betbeze, 2014). His distinctive artwork is present in many parts of the world from New Orleans to Disneyland and even in Israel and Palestine. Although his main form of art - graffiti -is often termed a low form of art, especially by advocates of modernism, Bansky’s genius speaks for itself. According to Betbeze (2014), the medium of art expressed by Banksy is championed by a postmodern perspective and generally complements his message of antiestablishment perfectly. By essentially embracing irony and at the same time surviving in a seemingly law-breaking and anarchic process, he comes across as attempting to stretch the boundaries of this form and genre and the same time appears to disregard them.
The mass-produced pieces of art by Banksy are meant to affect the audience or the art viewers and generally make them aware of the humongous flaws currently existing in the society. These include the irony in society’s virtues and the hypocrisy in its policies (Bentbeze, 2014).
In spite of Banksy’s words largely oriented towards the side of postmodernism and in fact being heralded by many as a perfect postmodernism artist, some of the Lyotard’s writings would significantly disagree with his description. A close analysis of Lyotards’s content when applied to some of Banksy’s work might make him come across as a modernist artist rather than a postmodernism artist.
Lyotard gives a comprehensive description of modernism, and one of the most pronounced characteristics of modernism is negative presentation. The other is emphasis on fragmented art form as well as discontinuous narratives. Negative presentation generally attempts to show the audience things by preventing these things from being seen (Lyotard, 1984). Although Banksy’s work might not be fragmented, most of his artwork, including his graffiti paintings and pictures when viewed from a close range, bring about multiple viewpoints. As seen earlier, he inserts social messages into his art such as the flaws in the society. However, his model or style of presentation prevents the audience from seeing the real social message that he is attempting to get across (Rosenau, 1991).
Bansky’s art also perhaps fulfills another characteristic of modernism as articulated by Lyotard, and this why perhaps why Lyotard would consider him to be a full postmodernism artist. According to Lyotard, modernism also emphasizes random collages of various materials (Lyotard, 1984). In his works of art, Banksy uses simple random and basic material or objects that might be considered to be natural and uses them to camouflage his social message. Therefore, people are rarely threatened by his work, and everyone appears to love his style.
Lyotard writes that a postmodern artist’s artist can be seen to be in almost a similar position to a philosopher, “the text he writes, the works he produces are not in principle governed by pre-established rules, and they cannot be judged according to a determining judgment, by applying familiar categories to the text or the work “(Lyotard, 1992). Lyotard continues to state that those categories and rules are what the art work is essentially looking for. Therefore, the postmodern artist works without rules in order to “formulate the rules of what would have been done” (Lyotard, 1992). Lyotard is of the opinion that the postmodern world basically suffers from what he refers to as a “crisis of representation”. He suggest that the postmodernism art is that in which the modern fundamentally invokes what would be considered unpresentable in the in the presentation itself; “that which refuses the correct forms, refuses the consensus of taste permitting a common experience of nostalgia for the impossible, inquires into new presentations” (Lyotard 1984). He goes on to state that postmodernism is not for the purpose of giving pleasure to the viewer but is rather for stimulating or producing the feeling that there is something there that is unpresentable (The University of Alabama, n.d).
Banksy can be seen as subverting this argument by Lyotard. Lyotard is clear that postmodernists completely refuse taste and do not want viewers to take pleasure in their work. On the other hand, however, most of the graffiti artwork by Banksy has elements of humor in that every audience member can join in even if this art piece has a social message in it (Jones, 2013)
In addition, another common argument in regard to postmodernism is that the art must live among the people that it is trying to reach and interact with them (Lyotard, 1984). Banksy seems to once again subvert this, and this is why he may not be considered as a full postmodernism artist. By putting his work on public walls, he is basically making his work available to everyone to view it and avoid assigning ownership.
Many of Banksy’s works contain very many of the characteristics mentioned above. One of his most famous paintings, for example, is the “I hate Monday” portrait. This image depicts a child who is currently located or situated in a deplorable environment and is wearing a t-shirt labeled “I hate Mondays”. Next to him is a boy who is half-seated and half-squatting who is looking at the first boy in quite a sad tone.
As mentioned earlier, one of the elements of modernism is negative representation that generally attempts to show the audience things by preventing them from being seen. In this particular portrait, there are multiple viewpoints, and audience member may not be able to decipher the real social message behind the art. One point, one may view it as a simple portrait depicting people going with their lives. In addition, another characteristic of modernism that is articulated by Lyotard is the use of discontinued narratives and in this picture, this seems to be the case. The picture seems to exhibit a narrative that is quite discontinuous and perhaps even unclear.
The boy who is half seated and half squatting seems dejected from something that cannot be accurately deducted from this discontinuous narrative.
There is nevertheless a great social message behind this portrait. The boy wearing the t-shirt with the “I hate Mondays” is the main subject. The initials depict irony. “I hate Mondays” is a term that is commonly used by affluent society members who work in big offices and in big corporations and who always dread reporting to work on Monday. This is because Monday is usually the first day of work after a weekend of resting and no work. However, for the boy, he is already living in deplorable conditions. The question that comes across, therefore, is how Monday is any different from any other day of the week for this boy. It is perhaps a suggestion of how people take life for granted. People who lead very affluent lives complain about a single day because they have to go to work; work that in most cases involves sitting in an office and almost doing nothing. The boy in the portrait could complain about every single day of his life which from the picture does not look to be so good.
As explained, this work of art evokes multiple viewpoints in spite of the fact that it is not fragmented. However, a post-modernist might argue that the work is a representation of postmodernism, especially through the irony depicted. According to Lyotard, postmodernism rejects the boundaries between the low and the high forms of art, rejects rigid genre distinctions and emphasizes pastiche, irony, and bricolage (Lyotard, 1984). The image is ironical as the boy is living in poor and deplorable conditions and yet he supposedly hates Mondays. The shirt he is wearing is probably a donation from a well-to-do person and the irony is that the shirt donor gave the boy a shirt instead of giving him something more important or something that he would have had more use for; for instance shelter and food.
As mentioned earlier, the social message behind this is significantly camouflaged and at first glance, it draws some aspect of humor from the audience. This is against the fundamentals of postmodernism as comprehensively explained by Lyotard. Lyotard is clear that postmodernism completely refuses taste and the viewer should not take pleasure in their work. Humor is one of the forms through which people take pleasure in things. This work of art by Banksy has elements of humor in that every audience member can join in even if this art piece has a social message in it.
The image of a boy wearing the “I hate Mondays’ is however still subject to different in interpretations by different art enthusiasts. While some might use Lyotard arguments to suggest that there are elements of modernism in it rather than postmodernism, postmodernism enthusiasts might also point put a couple of things of their own that would make this painting the perfect depiction of postmodernism at work. Such is tightness that has characterized the debate surrounding many of Banksy’s work although many seem to side with the idea that his works represent postmodernism.
Conclusion
As seen, postmodernism is movement of art that is considered to defy definition and is essentially said to have introduced an unstable mix of theoretical and theatrical. This movement is majorly multifaceted and is characterized by elements ranging from the luxurious to the completely ridiculous Postmodernism is considered to have shattered some of the previously established ideas and styles and generally radical freedom to the discipline of art and design. It did this by introducing gestures that ranged from being simply absurd, to being funny and even to being confrontational. Lyotard is one of the authors who have written extensively on this movement and is a huge supporter of it. This essay has used some of Lyotard’s argument to explore the works of Banksy, a British artist and shown that aspects of modernist and realist movements exist in this artist’s work in spite of the fact that many consider most of Banksy’s works to dominantly orient towards postmodernism.
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