The state of Post Modernism
continues to govern our time, permeating every aspect of our
lives and causing culture to show little interest in the aesthetic values and deeper meaning of
newly created works of art.
Why purchase new art if there is no new direction and everything
is fashionable these days? After all, art critics have written extensively about the End of Art.
We may as well hold on to what we have and find value therein, whatever it may be. Our
society seems to look for other ways to find direction and meaning these days. We are
passionately tapping into what has been, what had at some time previously proven itself to
possess great power. This makes us feel safe.
Why is the need for safety so vital for our culture?
Modern society has advanced too fast over the last decades. Never before in the history of
mankind have there been so many changes and with such speed. Life has become
incomprehensible for most people. Losing touch with our deep inner roots is causing us to
examine who we are, hoping to regain our worth by looking at the past. By ways of
reconnecting with previous values we are trying to find, and here I mean the individual as well
as society itself, the necessary sense of strength to create anew and to go forward.
Our PostModern
era seems to be a time of reflection on the self, on who we are and what
meaning we have created thus far for ourselves. Our Freudian heritage is asking society to
take a seat on the couch. Like a young adult, reassessing and rejecting the home, we are
searching the past to find our true meaning. What is of value we keep, searching for truth
and discarding what’s false in a fashionable deconstructive manner. The faster our
technological advances are implemented, the more strongly our society seems to regress by
holding tightly onto basic fundamental areas of life. The vision is turned backward or shall I
say inward. The progression of styles which had governed the arts has stopped. All the
attention is focused on the root system, on the existing structure and this is not only
happening in the arts. Artists with their visionary abilities have been anticipating the need to
reconnect with our heritage. Since the 1960 ’s they have worked in a reprocess mode by
borrowing from the past or deconstructing what had previously been sacred and powerful to
change the history of art.
What is our Heritage, what value can be ascribed to it?
Commodity values are reassessed and naturally increases in prices occur due to a perceived
worth. Art auctions, collectibles and antique shows are very fashionable these days, bringing
in high returns. People hold on to what they have, waiting for further gains or they purchase
items of the past (art by well known or deceased artists) to increase this structurally sound
and proven aspect of their lives. This gives stability in a time of not knowing what the future
will bring (war and terrorism). The new is not to be trusted since it has no record of intrinsic
worth. One cannot envision its validity since it is impossible to see its uniqueness in a
pluralistic time where everything is of the same value and importance. This perception of “No
Hierarchy” seems to be leading society to a greater, more colorful exuberance and diversity on
the upside
and on the downside
mediocrity and indifference.
Is there any visionary movement at all today?
The previous succession of styles has shifted to new forms of media expressions. The visionary
artist tries to continue the historical mode of a forward movement by ways of expressing
through the use of different mediums. The very act of creating is to make new. The artist
lives in the now and creates for the future. There is no fear where vision needs to express.
The new generation of artists is moving contrary to the current flow of energy in our culture.
Naturally the artist tries harder to get attention, which drives the current culture (still frozen in
a state of fear), and the creative arts further apart. The only possible way to make a
connection with the general public these days is by bringing the arts down to a commodity
level. Art works become mere decorations or objects for investments without a deep
connection to the soul. What we as a culture are ending up with are mediocre, shallow,
diverse and very commercial works of art, or on the other end screaming works of art so
outrageous in regards to their content, that nobody can understand these works nor live with
them. Such works are absorbed by the market as suitable objects for speculative investments
or by museums. The question is how many museums can society support?
Where is the balanced middle ground in this culture of extremes?
Pluralism with its colorful but mediocre, shallow, diverse and very commercial art seems to
occupy the position of the middle ground, causing society to become even more shallow and
indifferent towards any new visions.
How much longer do we have to search in our past to
recognize our innate values?
Can art initiate a reconnection with our deeper roots in a more
positive, lifeconfirming
way?
Perhaps it is time to take strength from past aesthetic values
and use their tried and proven intrinsic structures as means of expression to move our fearful,
adolescent culture to new and more mature heights. When is society ready to leave the “Freudian Couch” and proclaim “Yes we can handle life and construct a future filled with well
balanced, positive and aesthetic art which will affirm our present aliveness?”
By Marlies Ihmels
July 28, 2006
Back to Articles
|
