Postmodern forms 2

1. Postmodern forms 2 Imants Tillers interview with Virginia Trioli Martin Ison, Backyard Egypt, fineliner pen on paper, 25 x 35cm, 2012 Some of the features of postmodern art include parody, humour and the idea that there is always more than one truth; more than one perspective. This work incorporates all three aspects.

2. Mini review of last session: We have been working within the structure of Modernism for the past few months. Modernist art is a product of Modernity, which started with the Enlightenment in 18th century: • Characterised by great changes: – industrialisation; mass production; population increase; change in the way people worked and lived; increasing urbanisation and rise of the machine; World Wars. • Emphasis on reason; knowledge; science and the ability of reason to solve all problems. A time of optimism about this. A search for truth; authenticity. • A move away from the rigid rules and superstitions of medieval times and established religion. Modernity was a time of great change. Shown here is a celebration of the new transport. JMW Turner, Steam, speed and rain, oil on canvas, 1844

3. Modernist art is characterised by… • The idea of an avant-garde; • The idea of the artist as individual genius, with a name, a signature, and skill. • The move away from the need for accurate representation, due largely to the advent of photography; • Distortion of the figure; • Rise of the importance of representation of inner states; psychology; emotion…the subjective (Symbolism; Expressionism; Surrealism; Abstract Expressionism - both ‘gestural’ and ‘colour field.’) • Move away from the need to describe an outer reality; • Destruction of linear perspective and illusion; and development of Abstraction – the Cubists; Pollock; Rothko; Minimalist art. • ‘Art for art’s sake’: the creation of a work need not have a political, or religious, or teaching role. It can just be what it is, for its own self. Remember, the traditional idea about art was for a moral influence (religious art; then history painting involving religious stories or myths and legends from Classical Greece and Rome.) Rene Magritte, The Lovers, 1928, oil on canvas, 54 x 73cm. Magritte, a Surrealist, used traditional modelled forms and perspective, but created puzzling, unsettling images. An inner reality of some kind was being referred to.

4. So how do we characterise postmodernism? • Scepticism about modernity, rather than a faith and optimism about it. This is not really new. Modernity was never wholeheartedly accepted at all times. (consider the response to WW1 by the Dadaists. The Surrealists, also reacted against society of its time, with the repression and regulation of modern life and its losing touch with the inner reality.) However postmodern art brought a strong sense of scepticism and questioning. • Challenging of all types of structures; traditions and beliefs. • We saw the challenging of previous traditions with the avant-garde in Modernism. The new movement always thought it had the better way to get to an authentic expression. With Postmodernism, there is not that sense of ‘we have the answer’. It is more a case of ‘there ARE no definite answers. No one path is correct.’ There is no one, single truth. Rather, there are many stories; many voices.

5. Use of humour; irony or parody: Parody means ‘sending something up’ by imitating it. This could be any existing idea, or art of the past. Again, this is questioning structures or making a point. Ironyis seeming to mean one thing, but actually meaning something else. It is closely linked to parody. Often, too, humour is involved, but not always. This image was produced by the LGBT Support Group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, during the worst of the AIDS crisis in Australia. What is the image parodying and challenging here, and to what purpose? Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Sydney: Pieta, c. 1980s

6. Appropriation & questioning the notion of originality. We saw evidence of appropriation back with Manet with his use of the compositions of Titian and Giorgione. He, in turn, was actually doing something with a long tradition: looking back to the Masters and imitating them. It wasn’t a mere copy though... he created something new from it. This really took off with postmodern art, for example the work of Imants Tillers in Australia. Eugene von Guerard (Austrian, 1811-1901, Mt Kosciusko, >>> 1863, 66 x 116cm <<<Imants Tillers (Aust. B 1950) Mt Analogue, 1985, oil paint, oil stick and acrylic paint on 165 canvas boards, overall 279 x 571cm.

7. Tillers is one of our best known postmodern artists. He has been concerned, for several decades, with the idea of location, and Australia’s place, not simply geographically, but within the artworld. The traditional centres for art – Paris, New York – are a long way from us. This is not as important now as it has been previously (with the rise of international art fairs like the Biennale of Sydney, and the rise of art centres closer to us, like Beijing) but we are still a small and far-away place. Much of his work involves appropriating and ‘quoting’ the work of European artists, and the ideas of the original vs. the copy. Up till recently, most of the great artworks could not be seen in hard-copy by Australians, but rather in books – a ‘copy’ of the original. He is also very interested in Aboriginal art and artists and their relation to the land. Giorgio De Chirico, The painter’s family 1926. >>>>>>> Tillers, Inherited absolute, 1992, oil and oil stick on canvas boards, 231 x 228cm

8. DVD: interview on ABC Arts. Please make notes as we go, and we’ll make further notes after the DVD. Consider his approach to his art; his consideration of his audience; how he thinks of the world. Note the term ‘diaspora’ – a large number of people from the one place, scattered across the globe (often because of political reasons, conflict etc.) Some artists that Tillers refers to within the interview and in his work: Neo-Expressionists; Georg Baselitz; Giorgio De Chirico; Colin McCahon. Colin McCahon(NZ, 1919-1987), A question of Faith, 1970. McCahon is considered one of the great Modernist artists of Australasia. His work involves a lot of text, frequently using biblical quotes. He is interested in matters of faith and spirituality, doubt and belief.

9. Resources DVD on Imants Tillers: Sunday Arts 6/8 /2006: Virginia Trioli interviews Imants Tillers. DVD 709.94 SUND