Postmodernism, in art was a reaction against modernism. It came about around the 1970’s yet there is not a single piece of postmodern art, style or theory that it is hinged to. Modernism art style is very much focused around idealism and reason, playing with form and techniques. Whereas postmodernism art style was more focused on suspicion and contradicting meanings. This movement embraced many different art techniques, mainly because it allowed artists to break out of the ‘norm’ and experiment with their own styles. Stage designer, Es Devlin says in the film Abstract, design should show, reveal and deconstruct.

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist known for creating surreal artwork that doesn’t follow the ‘norms’ of society. His street art combines political and social visuals mixed with dark humour. This image of the ‘Flower Bomber’ has a very strong sense of juxtaposition, combining riots and flowers. To me this personally looks as if he’s pre-empting the deaths of people and the flowers resemble the after mass and tragedy for loved ones. The vibrant colours used within the flowers makes that the main attraction of the image, taking all the focus of the rioter.

Jamel Shabazz is a photographer documenting various aspects of life and cultures. His images really deconstruct and capture the raw emotions and sense of culture of the surrounding area. He has captured images from urban New York for the last 40 years, putting him in some violent areas which he was keen to show a different perspective of. ‘His work is testament to the beauty that can be found in the places considered least likely to provide it’.

“It’s an interesting mashup of the elegance of humanity in spite of the decay of the city and those photographs had a warm, yellowy, upbeat quality to them.” – Bradford Young

David Carson is a graphic designer, best known for his typography work. This Pepsi campaign uses minimal colours and simple design, this is very effective and aesthetic. The red writing on each container relates to a very wide audience, lots of people want to be young and have fun, by drinking Pepsi, you become a part of that, and that was Carson’s intentions. I really like his layout of the information put inside the bottles/cans and the block colours to break up this information a little.

Bibliography

Design, E. D. (2017). Abstract, The Art of Design. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Netflix: https://www.netflix.com

Postmodernism. (n.d.). Postmodernism. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Tate: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism

Banksy. (2014). Overview of Postmodern Art. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from On Postmodernism: http://www.onpostmodernism.com/art

Shabazz, J. (2017). Biography. (C. Media, Producer) Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Jamel Shabazz: http://www.jamelshabazz.com

Walik, J. (2015, March 03). 40 Years on NYC’s streets with Jamel Shabazz. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from Dazed: http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/23870/1/40-years-on-nyc-s-streets-with-jamel-shabazz

Parker, M. (2014, October 13). David Carson – Pepsi Cola Ad. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from 1323parker: http://1323parker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/david-carson-pepsi-cola-ad.html