Journal of Social and

Political Sciences

Iswahyudi. (2021), The Development of Postmodern Art: A Historical Overview.

In: Journal of Social and Political Sciences, Vol.4, No.4, 141-154.

ISSN 2615-3718

DOI: 10.31014/aior.1991.04.04.326

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Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3982498



The Asian Institute of Research

Journal of Social and Political Sciences
Vol.4, No.4, 2021: 141-154
ISSN 2615-3718
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved
DOI: 10.31014/aior.1991.04.04.326

The Development of Postmodern Art: A Historical Overview

Iswahyudi1

1
Faculty of Language and Arts, Yogyakarta State University. E-mail: iswahyudi@uny.ac.id

Abstract
In general, modernists see the art form as a pure form independent of the art form itself. They give priority over
what is shown. Or more importantly, the form or medium of representation they use is themselves. Based on this
opinion, it seems that in its development the post-modern travel model can roughly be distinguished between those
that are deconstructive and constructive or revisionary. Actually, one of the most prominent characteristics of
modernism that distinguishes it from previous cultures such as romanticism, realism or naturalism is the existence
of a systematic and amazing categorization. The energy that appears in each part is recognized for its strength. As
in this case are the schools: post-impressionism, symbolism, cubism, vorticism, imagination, akmeism, and neo-
plasticism. The term modernism was first used in 1890 by the Nicaraguan writer Ruben Dario to distinguish
between Latin American literature and Spanish literature. Until the 1920s, modern artists managed to maintain by
inspiring and integrating various art groups as a cultural force. These artists include; novelists James Joyce, Marcel
Proust, and Andre Breton. In post-modernism also emerged conceptual art, a movement that attaches great
importance to concepts. Often the work of conceptual artists is not shown in reality, but the work is limited to
sketches and texts in which the artist's ideas are depicted. Post-modern thinkers are disillusioned with grand visions
of the past such as Marxism and various religions. According to postmodernists, these visions bring only misery.
These old views are being erased and replaced by more personal ideas.

Keywords: Epistemology, Modern, Post-Modern, Art, Artist, Historical Review

1. Introduction

The change from modern to post modern is something that is natural because the historical mechanism must be
so. In the history of modern thought there will never be a concept that really appears in an empty space. Everything
happens intertextually from the results of previous thinking. It's just that it can be felt that post-modernism emerged
with a loud voice protesting the ideas of products of modernity that were established and legitimate or which had
become something of a big narrative that did not want to be extinct for all time. The long debate about the transition
from modern to post-modern is full of philosophical problems, especially in relation to epistemology. Too many
interpretations and various interpretations of post modern make the situation crowded and frenzied, so that it feels
like it only produces an empty intellectualism like a wilderness inhabited by various animals.

Starting from this opinion, it seems that in its development the post-modern travel model can be roughly
distinguished between those that are deconstructive and constructive or revisionary (Sugiharto, 1996:16). The first
theory was originally pioneered by philosophers, namely Gianni Vattimo and Derrida. then followed by thinkers
of language semiotics such as Ferdinand de Saussure and visual semiotician Charles Sander Pierce. Constructive
theory, which is in its mission to dismantle the picture of the modern world, but actually still maintains various
modern aspects that are considered important, because it supports creating something that is considered new. From

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this model, it tends to be dominated by hermeneutic thinkers, such as Gadamer, Paul Ricouer and David Griffin.
Starting from this model, this paper can lead the reader to find out how far the journey of post-modern art is.

Modern art, especially in the West, has been a discourse since the 20th century. The general theme displayed is
about various protests against works of art that are considered to have low values due to the influence of the
bourgeoisie in art. In addition, there are also concerns that there will be cultural intervention that is too vulgar.
Awareness of modernism in art began to be recognized by a group of romanticist painters in the 1870s who said
that there was modernism in art in all fields. An international band consisting of world's creative artists emerged
at the end of the 19th century and became a pioneer of the arts with a high fighting spirit, dedicated to fundamental
changes in the cultural conditions at that time. Due to consideration of the existence of opposing positions that
deviate from the dominant traditions contained in their various cultural backgrounds, the members of the
pioneering arts group tried to create a work of art that would become pure art in the truest sense. As a result, these
artists broaden the boundaries of what has hitherto been considered a work of art, often by breaking general rules
to create a form of art that they perceive as new and being violated by things that they previously considered taboo.

Although in some respects it was anticipated by certain phenomena that existed in the movement in the Romantic
period at the beginning of the 19th century and supported by the opinion that art was for art itself, the awareness
of modernism can be said to be emergency. Charles Baudelaire in 1821-1867, was an activist of the Impressionism
and as a poet he was very good at making unexpected pictures. Making personifications of abstract things or
astonishing visual representations, as found in the works of La femine-navire or shipwoman, L'angoisse
chauvesouris “battle restlessness” and La, jeunesse orage” or the youth of hurricanes (Husen, 2001). :130-134).

Actually, one of the most prominent characteristics of modernism that distinguishes it from previous cultures such
as romanticism, realism or naturalism is the existence of a systematic and amazing categorization. The energy that
appears in each part is recognized for its strength. As in this case are the schools: post-impressionism, symbolism,
cubism, vorticism, imagination, akmeism, and neo-plasticism. The term modernism was first used in 1890 by the
Nicaraguan writer Ruben Dario to distinguish between Latin American literature and Spanish literature. Until the
1920s, modern artists managed to maintain by inspiring and integrating various art groups as a cultural force.
These artists include; novelists James Joyce, Marcel Proust, and Andre Breton.

James Joyce asserts that by using parody, it is a strategy of recycling the past that can help find representational
conventions (Hutcheon, 2002:157). Marcel Proust is a linguist with the work "A La ecerherce du temps perdu". In
composing literary works, the time dimension plays an important role. In a certain sense, writers control time,
because in their literary works they themselves form time. The work “explores the memories of the past”. The
work which is entirely an autobiographical story written from the point of view of a single first-person narrator,
although not always the narrator's “I” is identical with Marcel Proust. This romance will entirely return to the past
through awareness and reflection (Husen, 2001: 167).

Andre Breton put the theory, that super reality must be an idea even though there must be chaos. Everything that
is considered intact must have a clear function, even though its presence may also be inconsistent with its place
and environment. One of the literary works, namely umbrellas and machines falling in love, is able to change
absolutes that are fake into something different. (Susanto, 2003:11). In his commentary on the world of
imagination, he tries to reveal their internal world such as; pain, downturned soul, joy and love. Even in
imagination, it can be developed to detail by describing the realities of the dream world, subconscious fantasy,
spiritual realm and the unimaginable realm. By the artists it is developed through; metaphor, humor, tragedy, satire,
and paradox.

Every national group in a country, each enjoys the work being a very short and powerful monument, making it
easy for other groups to understand. In this work, segments of the traditional orientation are still met, but they still
get a response from the public. Until the end of the first world war in 1938, these modern-day artists continued to
seek greater recognition. The war was not able to save the desired democracy of the bourgeoisie, but it could
support the development of art. The French poet Paul Verlain considered that both visual, musical and literary
performances had found their own audience. Especially in a collection of poems generally shows soft, melancholic


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and sensual (Husen, 2001: 142). Modernism has become the dominant cultural force in Western Europe, while in
America previous political movements still supported realism or neo-classicalism. The first museum was created
in 1929 in New York because it was specifically for modern art, while other museums followed. At the end of
World War II, the flow of modernism grew stronger and achieved recognized status, while reading materials were
prepared in existing high schools.

In historical events regarding the success of modernism in the field of art which was not easily obtained in the
middle of the century, it is said that the complex relationship between art modernism and the course of European
history is often discussed. The adherents of this modernist school often choose the daily lives of Europeans as the
subject of the success of the modernization label, so that there is a widespread use of experimental methods of
natural science to give satisfactory results. Even if they did not recognize the law of certainty that often appeared
in every research in the 19th century, they still tried to adopt new scientific models, such as Einstein's theory of
relativism and Freud's psychoanalytic theory as well as other better philosophies. An example in this case, is Ernst
March in 1838-1916. In his work, namely Frottage he feels through a series of suggestions and changes that are
achieved spontaneously like a hypnotic view. The pictures appear like unexpected shadows that are very likely to
cause "disruption" at least it will appear a kind of painting. He thought that the process of producing a painting
solely depended on increasing the capacity of the soul to be sensitive to passion. A painter must let go of all the
influences as much as possible from the chart he is playing, if he remembers the day of his birth, it becomes
excited, especially by observing the stages of its development.

The attitudes of modernists to non-cultural aspects of modernization are often contradictory. The elitism they use
implies the existence of "high-level art" and low-level art". By reproducing the characteristics of abuse of a free
lifestyle as a modification, they feel disappointed by the implementation of liberal democracy, so they choose to
solve this problem radically. A cultural and political crisis is unavoidable, both on the right and on the left. Some
of them like the poet T.S. Eliot, that in modern art to use parody is to affirm convention and history. Meanwhile
post modern is as a recycling strategy of the past that can be found at the same level of attack (still with
compromise) on the representation convention. However, there are significant differences regarding the effect of
the two parody uses. The difference is not that modernism is serious and significant while post-modern is ironic
and parody, as some observers say. However, post-modern irony is an irony that rejects modernism's resolving
urge on inference or at least reasoning. Both cannot be separated from complexity (Hucheon, 2002:158).

Before modernism was even half a century old, new hopes for art began to emerge. The modernists prioritized
elements of purification projects in their works. With this, modernism will help the development of the distinction
of pure art within the reach of human endeavors such as; ethics, politics, religion, and economics. Likewise, there
are indications of the echo of the motto “art for art” which causes functional art to be stifled. Evidence of the
emergence of this attitude is when these modernists often despise the slow development and act regionally, so that
the chronology of the course of history is considered to come purely.

What Roger Shattuck calls "the old-fashioned art of the modernists" in this case is to reposition the process of
transitioning the field of art by using one of the classical approaches, expressed in the image of "an umbrella and
a sewing machine on the analysis table", providing inspiration to the symbolic and surrealist schools in the same
way. Imagical poets such as Pound try to remove abstract elements in their works. He sought to dispel the
conceptual language of finding ways to express the various experiences of the soul that were introduced to the art
world by Bergson and the British critic T.E. Hulme. The montage technique used by the Russian filmmaker Sergei
Eisenstein and American novelists such as John Dos Passos expresses what is often called the modernist form of
space”. Cantos, Pound's or Eliot's Wasteland leave this normal syntactic development to opposing groups. Excerpts
are found in this regard, often excavated clearly to produce a worldly effect.

This shift in artistic value can be studied from various perspectives, from the emergence of contemporary art and
so on. Art is only seen as just a discourse. The term art is easier for people to use nowadays. Even though the term
art is still unclear until now, art is also not arbitrary, art also has a spirit and value in it. Many artists whose art is
formless and meaningful is also called art. "A new work of art can communicate fully with art connoisseurs if the
art connoisseur recognizes the value contained in the work or art object" (Sumardjo, 2000: 207).


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Despite all the new developments in art, traditional painting still has a place in art. In the 1970s, painting was
declared dead after the emergence of new media in fine arts such as computer art and video art. Painting has now
been reborn, various contemporary artists are returning to traditional painting techniques to express their ideas.
However, they do not work in the same style. Figurative and abstract works coexist, as do conceptual and surrealist
principles. The motto 'anything' also applies to post-modern painting.

In the eighties, a revival of abstract expressionism occurred in the work 'The New Wilds'. The hallmark of this
group of artists is that their paintings are spontaneous and purely based on feelings. Baselitz and Kiefer belong to
New Wild in Germany, René Daniëls is a Dutch artist who also belongs to this group. The shapes in the painting
look rough and unaffected. A number of artists introduce striking contrasts in their paintings by using bold colors.
Others, on the other hand, have a preference for a somber shade of gray. The themes described by New Savages
relate to the past, eroticism, dreams, fear or aggression. Daniels' fierce painting consists of figurative fragments
and abstract parts. 'Palais des Beauxaards' refers to the famous 'Palais des Beaux-Arts' museum in Brussels, but
the title is also a play on the word 'evil'. Daniels packs his critique of traditional art in a pun. Daniels doesn't care
about academic tradition, which is evident in the design neglect and deliberate mockery of the show.

2. The modernist cult of high aesthetics

Talking about high aesthetics is an emphasis on aspects of quality and technique at the same time. Since the
emergence of modern art or modernism in the arts, it seems that high culture in its manifestations represents the
real achievement of culture and can also represent a class of people who are educated and ogled by the bourgeoisie.
Just put in this case one of them is painting. As an alibi because it is made of canvas, it allows the inscribed paint
to record images more strongly when compared to other materials. Another development of this high art is also
related to the aspect of price which can be expensive and gets a special portion of one of the pure arts (William,
1985: 90-92).

High aesthetics can't be understood if it doesn't have to be contrasted with low aesthetics. The enrichment of high
culture has been carried out as in the course of European history which has formed an identity, so that it is
representative with its high aesthetic. On the other hand, in low aesthetics, it is considered as a procedure for the
needs of mass culture or subsistence objects, so that the results are considered to have no standard of cultural
results that are to advance, improve and enlighten life (Gams, 1975).

The experience of Western culture during the 19th century showed that high culture became an identity that gave
privacy and benefits, so that modernism tries to maintain its autonomy, including in this case the expression of its
artistic works. Artwork products have reached perfection because they are pursued through a process of self-
criticism and various servitude through discussion and the distribution of information in all directions with other
spices of modernity values. The emergence of the modern art community gave birth to various art movements in
society that declared themselves to be the Avant-garde Manifest.

In general, modernists see the art form as a pure form independent of the art form itself. They give priority over
what is shown. Or more importantly, the form or medium of representation they use is themselves. For example
in some modernist dramas such as "Six Characters in Search of an Author" in 1921 by Luigi Pirandela, theatrical
fantasy and the involvement of the audience in existing illusions appear to be real in the drama. Therefore, most
of the lectures and discussions about criticism around the modernist world are mainly people of Russian
nationality, while adherents of the new American critique emphasize the existence of both personal and social
work.

Although remnants of the aesthetic science embraced by expressive-romanticism can still be found in various
famous creations, in general, modernist art is known as a free work, a work that has artistic values that cannot be
compared with anything beyond the power of from within the work of art itself. As Eliot argues that the progress
of an artist is a sacrifice of the relentless, or a loss of personality that is also relentless. Poetry is not an emotional
state that begins to disappear, but an escape from that emotion, poetry is not an expression that radiates from one's
personality but is an escape from one's personality.


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High reflexivity, ambiguity and self-awareness of technical matters in producing works, is what distinguishes the
flow of modernism from other schools. The more traditional art produced by the modernist competitors was still
small. These things are seen in the era of modernism which finally creates a mainstream art that is opposite to
traditional art, as was done by Lawrence Sterne, the author of the anti-novel "Tristram Shandy" in the 18th century.
In this novel the post-modern narrative may be seen indirectly, namely that Marxism cannot completely
characterize all other modes of interpretation. In his post-modern storytelling, there is no mediation that can act as
a dialectical sense to form the relationship between narrative and social ground. The two are separate and remain
separate. The contradictions that arise cannot be resolved dialectically but coexist heterogeneously. For example,
in the novel by Salman Rusdhi, in fact it hinders any interpretation of the contradiction. It is thought that it is just
a discontinuity, but the reality is that there is a conscious sign of an oppressive discontinuity for historical reasons
or something real. Historiographical metafiction is required by Laurence Sterne in Tristam Sandy where readers
and critics are considered to have the same educational background.

It is clear that as a function of this post-modern note is extratextual, connecting us to the world outside the novel,
but there is still something else. Most records refer us to texts, other representations and the external world that
can only be reached indirectly through the notes. In this case, parody can be used to lift the past in both art and
historiography. Parody can be a politicized representation, but in a very different way. An intertextual presence
can do more than cut off megalomaniac attempts at structuring and systematizing by reinforcing us to the inevitable
possibility of contingency. The intertextual presence also shows the past British imperialist empire which literally
shows the pride of being part of the representation of the Indian nation. And we only know when the texts are put
together in a parodic pattern of relationships. Tristam Sandy, for example, is not only related to the form, but the
similarities in form also point to differences that are ironed out both in form and content. It is at this point that the
method used by Laurence is to articulate both his post-modern ambivalence, in terms of his cultural debt to the
British aesthetic tradition both culturally, politically and historically (Hutcheon, 2004:296).

By following this logical aesthetic purification, restorative (past) as it was written at that time often suppressed
excessive goals. As in creating architecture at the Weimar Republik Bauhaus School, emphasizing on geometric
forms was actually less than preferred at that time. Although certain forms are still allowed to be used, at that time
the preferred ones were optical values, namely clarity, simplicity, and transparency. As according to the critic
Clement Greenberg in 1909-1994, said that post-modern architecture, was born as a rejection of the principles of
modern architecture in the 20th century. The presence of post-modern in the field of art also shows similar
symptoms of rejection. Modern architecture does not respect the styles of the past. (Connor, 1989:81). Modern
people find their identity by removing everything other than themselves, so in this way modern artists say that
their artwork is pure or original (there are references). The modern trend in the field of art is the same as in the
field of architecture, namely univalence. Through this, the pride of modern artists is if they have stylistic integrity
(stylistic identity). On the other hand, post-modern art is based on the awareness that there is a close relationship
between one's own and the property of others. This is why post-modern art adheres to a diversity of styles or
multivalence. If the modern likes the pure, then the post-modern likes the impure.

In contrast to painting, modernism is often defined in terms of "advanced abstraction of pure form", colors and
textures that imitate anecdotal and emotional things off the canvas. This means that the flat grid has turned into a
new, symbolic anti-perspectivealism movement, which is not in line with the illusionists' attention to traditional
painting. Modernist sculpture can survive in abstraction, not only from representative subjects (especially about
humans), but also in terms of the cultural meaning in which buildings such as churches, palaces, or public parks
are usually placed. modernist. The source of this inspiration can come from primitive tribes, especially African
and Oceanian ethnicities, because it has been known to succeed in modernists' appreciation of the formal qualities
or intensity of their coloring, which distinguishes them from their religious and ritual values. Regarding modernist
music, especially those associated with the Second Vionna School or the music school led by Arnold Schoenberg
in 1874-1951, it is known to trace musical forms after the crisis of tone. Therefore to ignore the interests of
musicians, is to pay attention to the listeners or arouse their feelings. Even the most referential visual phenomena
or phenomena, namely photography can develop into a type of high-level art and can survive as a symbol of pure
beauty and imagery born from the talented hands of an artist through mechanical processes in a camera.

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As a visual medium, photography has a long history, both in terms of political use values and objects of political
suspicion. For example Brecht and Benjamin or the photomontage Heartfield. The exhibition of three Vancouver
photographers in the 1980s Arni Runuar Haraldson, Harold Ursuliak and Michael Lawlor entitled Alinear: Post
Phallocentrism, provides an example of satire's complex sociopolitical critique of dominant cultural
representations. Lawlor's photomontage taken from the media is reminiscent of Heartfield's technique if not the
sharpness of his attacks: Two Queens features images of Marlyn Monroe and photographs of Queen Elisabeth I in
the newspapers. This combination implies a distinctly Canadian irony, an irony aimed at double colonization,
historical colonization namely the British empire and contemporary colonization namely the American media.

Today's photography is one of the main forms through which we can see and see for ourselves. Often what is
referred to as post-modern photography. This photography advances the concept of ideology as a representation
by recycling known recognizable images from general visual discourse, so that it is almost like an act of revenge
for his unrecognized political behavior. Starting from the universal mass media, photography allows what is seen
as a representation of the work of Nigel Scott, Barbara Krugger and Richard Prince, to speak to challenge works
that are more vernacular in nature and exploit image seduction. However, post-modern photography also discusses
the history of the medium and the results of that discussion are carried out in a way that goes far beyond journalistic
instrumentalism and capitalist persuasion. for example; the art of formalist photography victimized by the
politically problematic 1930s documentary by Sherrie Levine and Martha Rosler, the referential portrait
convention created and overturned in Cindy Sherman's self-portrait by taking her own poses. The pattern
relationship between narrative and photographic sequences is destabilized in the work of Duane Michals and
Victor Burgin (Hutcheon, 2002: 67).

Starting from this, it reminds us that Clement Greenberg's criticism of the old-fashioned doctrine is so influential
that future generations of commentators are considered to have shackled the art world during the early part of the
present century. For many existing modernists, differentiation and purification mean highlighting the various
formal equipment as well as highlighting the media used. It is not illusions reproduced in a real medium, but actual
paintings on a two-dimensional canvas or even photographs made from various images that are the main concern
of modernists. Not the old building ornaments, but iron, glass, or how to make the building look magnificent. It is
not the feelings that are expressed or the events described in a poem, but the words that evoke evocative memories
or the forms that appear real in a picture that often gets right in the hearts of modernists.

In fact, as stated by the Austrian architect Adolf Loos in 1870-1933, that ornamentation or the addition of
ornaments is tantamount to a show to provoke crime or "ornament is Crime". Therefore, modernism often
considers itself as a question of authenticity and fidelity in aesthetic terms (Susanto, 2003:223). His rejection of
past models is maintained as a refusal to pursue a strategy of complying with the ruling government regulations.

3. The crisis of high-level modernism

Modernism is still believed in during these three centuries, because in the interest of the emergence of a new
cultural atmosphere. To borrow Jean Lyotard's term, the modern era sees itself as the embodiment of a narrative
of progress, a myth that legitimizes technological invention and economic growth as a means to create a better
world for mankind. At one time, this narrative was opposed by another narrative, namely the Marxist narrative
which tells about the revolution that resulted in the utopia of intellectual socialism. Modern people are never
completely free from the power of myth. The fighters for modernism have a growing following, although their
success is not generally denied. What was once considered new, critical and rebellious then becomes a teetering
force, with the appearance of something that once wanted to be destroyed.

In line with the end of the 20th century, there is no other history of civilization that can replace the era of
modernism. Even the most likely possibility is only a temporary atmosphere or cultural flow. There are many
opinions about the name of this school, indicating that there is no stability. From one point of view, post-modern
suggests reading that is chronological according to the chronological order of time as a cultural movement, so that
it can replace the flow of modernism which can no longer be called something new. As is well known, post-
modernism causes a difference with other post-posts such as post-historical, post-structuralist, post-Marxism, and


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post-social industry. But it is possible that post-modernism also recognizes dependence on a name and all forms
of practice. Likewise, is it possible that we can get something that is always new even from the word modernism?

The quality of post-modernism may be considered as an expression of a new challenge that the British painter
John Watkins Chapman seems to have followed regarding the flow of impressionism. Post-modernism can be said
to have the values of modernism as opposed to the art of repetition. The art of sobriety and rebellion of the futurists.
For this reason, post-modernism seems to create something more than modernism creates. In the 1980s, post-
modernism was seen as a challenge to be faced and won with various projects being undertaken to agree on these
paradoxes or contradicting opinions, post-modernism was considered capable of supporting the other histories
mentioned above. Movements such as dadaism, futurism and surrealism can now be considered capable of erasing
the boundary between art and life. As well as the techniques possessed by the German militant artist Bertol Brecht.
As Bertol Brecht knows, in his theatrical work, V. Effeke, is to develop a Marxist theory of distanced theater that
directs his theater to no longer be “dramatic”, but “epic”. Theatrical performances do not aim to involve the
audience's emotions in surprising moments, but show how human life moves in line with changes in the social and
economic aspects of a particular society (Camus, et.al, 1998: xxvi). Likewise for figures such as the French artist
Marcel Duchamp who do not adhere to traditional or modern painting can now be considered as offerings for the
purification of the visual experience. Marcel Duchamp's later work, is a rejection of beauty or formal beauty. His
works are also considered to be born of extraordinary talent. Another example, the Monalisa painting, was
beautified with a mustache and given the words L.H.O,D.Q or in French it means "She is Stupid Beauty".

4. Post-modernism and tainted excellence

Post-modernism is then defined as the turning point of purification and differentiation in high modernism. the
existing paintings are no longer abstract, the photographic techniques are no longer symbolic. Adherents of
modernism often contradict the issue of style to create beautiful works. However, unlike Joyce, post-modermism
rejects the purpose of aesthetic sublimation, because the results will be random. As well as the slogan raised by
Ludwig Mies "less is more". This is in contrast to post-modernists such as the US architect Robert Venturi who
considers "less is something boring". Robert Ventury tells as in his story, in the 1970s there was a rapid
development of design. The existence of the Arab-Israeli war resulted in industries in the West and Japan suffered
a great blow. For this reason, they are looking for alternative ingredients to replace oil. From the design world,
there has also been a massive shift, especially with regard to the principles of efficiency and fuel use, simple
designs emerged. Soft line is practical, energy-saving and beautiful. The discovery of Digital Quartz made designs
undergo further processing, especially in electronic products, watches, calculators, walkmans, self-check media,
videos, photocopies and also military tools such as laser weapons, enhanced radar, guided missiles and tools. -
communication tool. Some designers, one of them is Robert Venturry (Susanto, 2003:83).

Post-modernism sees indecision arise from what has been "placed" in quotation marks to undermine its basic
status. As Bataille argues, the formless resists all efforts to accommodate all the various excesses. Surrealist
photographers such as Man Ray are now displaying human forms in images that no other photographer had
previously shown. German artists such as Baseliz and A.R. Penck is known for restoring pre-abstract
expressionism. With others such as Joseph Beuys and Kiefer are grounded in more national themes as well as
historical themes.

Related to installation art. The most important thing that is quite significant in installation works is where the work
process is a unitary unit that also determines the size and value of the artwork. Event elements such as Happening
Art/Performance Art or rather the process of occurrence of an event have been considered as representations. the
contact between the object and the audience feels so heavy and this, the process of occurrence is the result of our
own work. So in terms of form, installation is still an art that is experiencing development, starting from the idea
and concept of expression to the level of reaction such as the use of multimedia technology effects, movements
(kinetic), lights (laser), music, dance, and video in effects. an assemblage that continues to blow on the artistic life
that exists today. For example, Yoseph Buys with his monumental works, such as wrapping buildings, bridges,
fencing mountains, making car accidents or umbrellas for beaches and decorating showrooms with rocks.

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There is also concept art or conceptualism, if before the 1970s a work of art was considered valid only if it had an
outward appearance such as paintings, poetry books, songs, sculptures and others. So concept art validates that the
concept notes of ideas have become works of art. This art states that even ideas can be considered beautiful and
attractive. So do not be surprised if his works only contain diagrams and the mindset of an artist in producing
works. Actually concept art has two sides; 1. Theoretical study of the concept of art. 2. Making the “concept” itself
a work of art. It is said that the emergence of this school was due to a crisis in painting and the impasse of formalist
and minimalist aesthetics. This art is also a continuation of the chest movement and anti-art. One good sign is the
work of the artist, concept art is considered to overlap with performance art which, according to Yoseph Buys,
uses the human body as a medium for expression.

The reinvention by post-modernists is influencing existing art institutions. Movements such as those carried out
by the Bauhaus, Surrealism and Futurism are directed to the realization of artistic values. Furthermore, in order to
strengthen existence or existence by overcoming the differences of bourgeois society, most post-modernists lose
their allegiance to pre-existing beliefs. The spirit of the constructivists was replaced by the spirit of deconstruction
which shifts the difference with what Jacques Derida calls "difference". In this case a new use of the word implies
postponement as well as the meaning of difference, because the need for various rules and a total restoration of
meaning, the mockery posed for modernists, is a reflection of a return to their golden age that never existed
(Derrida, 1982). : 2). Even though they attempted to subvert their opponents, they never actually succeeded.
According to post-modern architecture magnate Charles Jencks, an American, the end of that hope was on July
15, 1972. At that time the Pruit-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Missouri was blown up, so the goal of providing
mass housing through what the French architect of modernism Le Corbusier called a “machine for life” had to end
(Grenz, 2001: 25).

Charles Jencks, is a historian with another theory who wants to apply the ideas of biological evolution to the object
of his study. In his book Modern in Architecture 1973. He put all architecture from 1920 to 1970 in one of 16
which he called "tradition" or "movement". The six species are; logical, idealistic, self-aware. He stated that the
latter 80% of the environment formed. The basis for this classification seems to be the ideas and attitudes of the
architects. Jenks presents a diagram or “evolution tree” which in fact represents various species as large and narrow
streams, sometimes flowing from one another. Within each architecture the labels of various architectural styles
and types appear along with the names of famous architectures in chronological order and in large typography to
mark their relative importance. Jencks recognizes the dangers of comparing the evolution of plant and animal
species and recognizes that unlike the latter architectural movements never become extinct simultaneously because
they can always be resurrected. Although Jencks's very different classification scheme is questionable at least it
allows a comprehensive approach to the field, his plural approach provides a more complex account than the
previous one, namely a single-branched history.

Charles Jencks as an architectural historian has criticized Pevsner's book, Pioneers of the Modern Movement 1936,
because he presented a single theory about the development of architecture from William Morris to the Groupies
combining futurist and expressionist movements, then presented it as a 20th century style. Jencks even
characterizes Pevsner's approach as “historical” in the sense of the definition of four. This criticism appears in the
introduction to Modern Movement in Architecture 1973, a book in which Jencks presents modern architecture as
a tradition of plurality (Jecks, 1984:9).

In fact, the idea of the pioneers of art in preparing a new culture was rejected by post-modernists. This widespread
denial at the end of the twentieth century which claimed that it was driven by communist-Leninism became
increasingly strong. They are criticized for their arbitrariness by not enforcing today's values. It was during the
general intellectual period, as Michel Foucault called it, that led to the end of the synthetic meta theory. So for
post-modernists, certain pioneering art techniques can no longer be placed here. The goal of full transparency can
no longer be achieved and indeed visual priorities have actually changed.

Although arts institutions lost their special status, their incorporation did not come at a high cost. If life is to be
incorporated into artistic values, then art does not have to be all about modesty. Simulacra or something similar to
one another, according to Jean Baudrillard, has no clear origin. Post-modernism includes multiple and manifold


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transient traits. As a result, they reject art without media and consciousness without ideology. Oscar Wilde asserts
that art can appear sophisticated if it is metamorphosed into “significant forms”, so that it lives again even though
it is not known (Camus, et.al, 1998:77).

Sometimes post-modernism seems to contradict all liberation projects. Urging to rise again after the failure
experienced in the 1960s, one is taken over into a new expression, a cynicism, a turning point towards a less critical
nature or meaning, or the acceptance of various consumers who do not have sharp feelings. In Germany, where
the memory of the anti-modernist movement is still not very deep, rejection of what Jurgen Habermas calls the
"incomplete modernist project" is everywhere. Other critics also warn of the failure of modernism and repeat the
same demands on modernists as they did in the previous century.

What existed in the 1960s was known as "Pop Art" or popular art, is an art development that is influenced by
popular culture phenomena that occur in society. This style was born because of the touch of the "dada" which
influenced the next era. Pop Art began in London in the mid-1950s by an independent group or the Independent
Group consisting of artists and intellectual figures. Then this expanded to the United States. The birth of "Pop Art"
was more or less influenced by the hustle and bustle of the development of mass communication media and the
trade industry between developed countries, especially in Europe and America. In America "Pop Art", is a reaction
to abstract or non-object art. Saturated with abstract forms, the artists of "pop art" present to the public forms that
are familiar or popular in the midst of people's lives, especially those related to daily needs. Richard Hamilton in
1956 made a work entitled Just What is it makes Today's Home So Different, So Appealing?. When the art of "Pop
Art" was influential in the United States, then Andi Warhol appeared who was successful and achieved a reputation
even though without turning a blind eye that the influence of industry brought art to dwarf the ethics of art
production (Danesi, 2012: 252)

Indeed, the distinction between art and merchandise which has been the main product of the West since the time
of Romanticism is so thin that it angers observers of the rule of art, both aesthetically and politically. Although an
idea that remains in the early modernism era, is still often used, it is a kind of revelation without any hope of an
unveiling of such revelation after the destruction of the old rules. It is often said that history has returned to the era
of post-modernism, but it still exists in a chaotic form and has no historical process of emancipation. History, is
containing the meaning of irony for various significant developments.

It would be misguided to think that all artists and critics who identify with post-modernism are seen as controlling
political passions. In certain ways the spirit of high modernism did not completely disappear, even if it was opposed
to the modernist pioneers it did not necessarily disappear. Modernism itself is believed to be developing in the
popular culture that surrounds it as; newspapers, books, catalogs, advertisements, and perhaps music. Unlike the
post-modernists, because they prefer to question the hierarchy. Possibly, they argue in the created discussions, as
in postmodernist novels such as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. This work is considered to be able to
combine metaphysics and riddles of language texts with medieval theology. This book is a complex enigmatic
masterpiece, multi-layered and offering a variety of open interpretations. It can be read as a detective story, a
historical story, a semiotic game, a text experimentation, a parody of a philosophical adventure seeking the truth
or whatever. In fact, this novel as a whole is a manifestation of what is called freedom of interpretation or to
borrow Derrida, is the interpretation of the interpretation of existing texts, including religious sacred texts. Eco's
recontextualization process was able to produce a new interpretation of the situation of monastic life in the Middle
Ages. However, the freedom of interpretation offered by Eco can lead us to an open interpretation space (Haft et
al., 1999: 12).

Furthermore, it is related to the creation of art which is always in the process of recycling, which cannot be
tolerated. There is a slight difference between the original and the imitation, so that it can become an important
pillar in the intuition of art, whether distinguished or sacred. In literary terms, the distinction between a quoted
text and the original is very vague or indistinct. Even the difference between the real body and its imitation remains
to be questioned by modernists who observe the world in cyborg Art.

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When Walter Benjamin's critique of being a German Marxist was erased in post-modernism, commercial-minded
performances became a major concern throughout the period. New technologies such as television encourage the
emergence of new inventions such as cinema and vinyl records. Some post-modernist artists work to prevent art
from becoming a trade that the modernists failed to do before. The case of a Van Gogh and Monet because they
had an alibi to buy materials, resulting in the jargon of "art that harms itself". Starting from this, Post-modernism
is considered close to the capitalists. This has led to a very scathing critique by Herbert Marcuse, that art has been
predicated on a "repressing purification or desublimation".

5. Libido alternative between feminism and multiculturalism

In modernist art, some critics admit that its aesthetics open up possibilities for discourse to become extinct. After
the modernism era was enlivened, gender issues occurred which later became more developed after this modernism
era. In the late 19th century, society was depicted as a woman; irrational, unable to control themselves, and do not
have high cultural values. this was illustrated by literary critics such as Hippolyte Taine in 1828-1893 (factors
such as climate are absolutely accepted. Using biological factors including race and heredity to explain the
character designs of certain people. In his case, racial factors are modified by two other factors; environment
(milieu) and momentum. Despite the suspicion that while racial theories were generally used the theory of
biological determinants still seemed to support English-type discussions of British art and design. Taine discovered
that human nature is determined by the laws of universal determinism which exist therein. regulate biological and
physiological characteristics, especially heredity, psychological states are influenced by physiological). Novelist
Emile Zola 1840-1902. (Zola was originally a romantic writer and at first hated realism because there was no
poetry in realist work. Later he discovered that exact science could be used as capital by writers. Novels can be
considered as attachments to life sciences and medicine. His writing method is based on observing elements of
reality. what happens in life is based on experimentation by utilizing what is around the environment in which the
characters he writes about. Thanks to experiments, the mechanism of facts and laws that govern realities can be
explored. In addition, Zola emphasizes the role of instincts, especially animal instincts. the character is a man of
impulse, whose every action is driven by a bodily impulse, so that it often has fatal consequences.

It is not surprising that the culture of the community has experienced the same thing, so it is often compared to the
spiritual values of the elite modernists. In this regard, many modernists remain in a discriminatory opinion against
women who are considered culturally inferior as well as the culture of society which is considered to be backward
or regressive and low in degree. Meanwhile, men are considered as producers of culture, capable of carrying out
various reforms, and women are considered as consumers (users) of culture as sentimental fiction, according to
their inferior status. Even as there were changes to gender in the 19th century, modernists such as the English
novelist D.H. Lawrence and adherents of sur-realism still hold to this orthodox view.

Post-modernism that emerged at the time of the criticisms that were raised by feminists about post-modernism, it
is impossible to ignore it, has lost its sense, not only for the narratives of its accomplished artists, but also for the
narratives of leading artists of various kinds. masculine gender. Because they often make fun of or parody about
the appropriateness of the cultural image held by women, some feminists in the post-modern era such as Cindy
Sherman (United States) and Barbara Kruger consciously seek to undermine a form of power which is also referred
to as the "Point View". or the yardstick of men”. With the support of the post-structuralists, they can develop all
forms of practice that can win the demands of the modernists for their existence. By emphasizing aspects of
feminism, the crossover of which has been negatively assessed by modernists, they raise parody, simulation
(disguising human thoughts and feelings), and plagiarism to the level of cultural norms.

Post-modernism also requires the merging of work as did post-colonial artists, some of whom lived in what was
once European rule, while others settled and assimilated with the natives. The spirit of magical realism possessed
by Latin American novelists such as Gabriel Gracia Marquez who is famous for his Chronicle of a Death Foretold
(Marquez, 1982) seems to be an affirmation that is not only for the joy of novel metafiction but also a historical
and political act. It is highly suspected that this novel was able to inspire the Pakistani-born writer, namely Salman
Rusdhie. One of his works is best known for his outrageous "Verses of Satan", which attacked not only the
sensibilities of Western modernists but also the Eastern modernists and anti-Islamic modernists he left behind


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when he headed to England. The post-modern era's fondness for change, difference and novelty reflects the new
reality of Europe's increasing multi-cultural struggle to accommodate novelty, to adapt to the long-awaited process
of Western decline and hopes to politically forge a post-Marxist school of thought. which is now fragmented.

Because post-modern schools consciously seek to eliminate the gap between aesthetics and non-aesthetics, some
thoughts such as thoughts about gender (sex differences), ethnicity, and multiculturalism (many cultures) . enter
the world of discussions around the issue. Efforts were made to link it to the broader modernization process. As is
the case in modernism, the effects or effects of new technologies such as airplanes, cinema, radio, and now
computers, glass lenses, and video are believed to be accompanied by a process of revolutionizing cultural images
such as cyborg, cyberspace and cyberpunk, all of which are words easy to grasp or accept that reflects changes in
artistic products.

For less interesting things which commentators call the information model and not the traditional production
model, the post-modernist era can be considered as an expression of the latest capitalist developments. One analyst,
British geographer, David Harvey tries to tie it into a transition from an economy based on broad-scale “Fordist”
accumulation to a more flexible one. Meanwhile, the American literary critic Fredric Jameson (1991) relates it to
the relentless and tangible completion of the modernization process which means the loss of the very strong
resistance in the form of the lowest class society that existed in Roman times.

However, although post-modernism as a cultural condition has been created, its origins are explained in a wider
variety of social fields, in economic and technological forces, and the urgency of this school is understandable. Of
course, it is still too early to write a balance in post-modernism itself, and other results could still emerge if this
school continues to maintain the use of multiple narratives, diverse subject-matter positions and if this school will
not use perfectives or methods. a holistic look at its golden age. We certainly stand between these two things and
try to explore or examine the cultural paradigm to be able to imagine what will happen next. The so-called
incomplete project of post-modernism is still being discussed in various spheres of discussion.

6. Conclusion

Post modernism in art emerged as a reaction to modernism. The boundary between elite culture and mass culture
is disappearing. The two extremes actually combine in post-modern art. An artist is no longer someone who creates
original work, he is now a 'bricoleur', someone who combines various elements into a new work of art. Art-
historical styles and different art disciplines are combined by the artist in a single work of art. In post-modernism,
ideas, concepts, are central. So it's no longer about good technique or good drawing, but about the idea behind the
work.

In post-modernism also emerged conceptual art, a movement that attaches great importance to concepts. Often the
work of conceptual artists is not shown in reality, but the work is limited to sketches and texts in which the artist's
ideas are depicted. Because there is no one-size-fits-all style, post-modern art is sometimes labeled with the
predicate: 'anything'. Post-modern thinkers are disillusioned with grand visions of the past such as Marxism and
various religions. According to postmodernists, these visions bring only misery. These old views are being erased
and replaced by more personal ideas.

In post-modernism, art is often not created on the basis of a particular assignment. Artists give shape to their own
ideas without having a buyer for the work first. Post-modern art works are generally autonomous works,
autonomous works of art that stand alone and have no special function. Many works of art are sold through galleries
and auction houses. Prices can be high, in the millions, when it comes to the artwork of famous artists. However,
only a handful of artists can actually make a living from art.

Based on the discussion of the truth of art in the post-modern context above, it can be concluded as follows. This
shift in artistic value can be studied from various perspectives, from the emergence of contemporary art and so on.
Art is only seen as just a discourse. The term art is easier for people to use nowadays. Even though the term art is
still unclear until now, art is also not arbitrary, art also has a spirit and value in it. Many artists whose art is formless


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and meaningful is also called art. "A new work of art can communicate fully with art connoisseurs if the art
connoisseur recognizes the value contained in the work or art object".

The idea of the artist as a genius and the work of art as something authentic that characterizes modernism is now
abandoned in a post-modern perspective. As stated by Jencks in Piliang which states that Post-modern art is more
eclectic or double coded. The power of the code is getting stronger in the post-modern human mind. Visual arts
take precedence over the value system it contains. In the Post-modern era, it can be said that all forms of art are
returning to values that were previously forgotten in the modern era. However, because of this flexibility, many
people find it increasingly difficult to judge and find meaningful art because every artist is increasingly making
strange works of art. Art is wholly the satisfaction of selfless beauty. “In relation to morality, art aims to discover
and reveal the beauty of the universe, because there is something sublime and noble in accordance with an
appreciation of the cosmos.

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Figures

René Daniëls: Palais des Beaux-aards, 1983

Bergson Art, Spin Art

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Molenaar & Van Winden architecten / WAM architecten: Inntel Amsterdam-Zaandam (Zaanstad), 2008-2010

Ossip Zadkine: stad (De verwoeste stad), 1953

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