The first postmodern work which caught my eye was “Aung San Suu” by Shepard Fairey (2009)– the graphic style of illustration is what really appealed to me, particularly the propaganda like style of the photo combined with the simplistic layering of flat block colour to create depth. The positioning of the portrait combined with the warm analogous colour scheme is used to show the power of the subject, while also revealing a softer side to Suu by lifting the shadow on her face and including the iconography of the dove underneath the portrait – deconstructing the perception of propaganda as an inherently bad tool. I personally love this stylised portrait work, and think the colour scheme influenced by propaganda work is bold and striking.

Another postmodern work which appealed to me was the work “Ignorance = Fear” by Keith Haring (1989). Haring’s art is a clear example of how postmodernist artists would deconstruct the perception of art established by modernists – “[Postmodernism’s] artefacts resist taxonomy, and its episodic cadence defies the orderly impulse of the historian”(Adamson & Pavitt, 2011). Haring’s garish almost childlike style challenges pre-postmodern ideals of art, and I think his art was refreshing and confrontational in revealing the horrors of the AIDS epidemic which Haring ultimately died from. I love the vibrant and detailed work of Haring and his distinctive and unusual art style, which has inspired some of my own pattern based design before.

I am also interested in photography, and I found the abstract and unusual postmodernist work of Sandy Skoglund particularly noteworthy. I find the image “Revenge of the Goldfish” (1981) striking, not just because it shows the dreamlike imagery of floating goldfish, but because of the juxtaposition of the complementary blue and orange. This ambiguous piece creates a multiplicity of interpretation, as the symbolism of the goldfish in the children’s bedroom can be deconstructed in numerous ways. The combination of the ordinary setting of the room in contrast to the fantastical underwater world, almost childlike in the stylisation of the bright fish and crude blue paintwork, fits together so well, creating a piece which challenges the modernist ideals of photography which came before it, and I find its abstract nature fascinating.

Bibliography:

• Fairey, S. (2009) Aung San Suu. [image] Available at: https://obeygiant.com/prints/aung-san-suu-offset/ [Accessed 15/11/17]
• Haring, K. (1989) Ignorance = Fear. [image] Available at: http://www.haring.com/!/art-work/253#.Wh7mUsacZ-U [Accessed 15/11/17]
• Adamson, G. and Pavitt, J. (2011) Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990. London: V&A Publishing, page 9.
• Skoglund, S. (1981) Revenge of the Goldfish. [image] Available at : https://akronartmuseum.org/collection/Obj1713?sid=1&x=65153&port=289 [Accessed 15/11/17]