Post modernism occurred in the late 20th century as rejection to modernism and its ideas. Post modernism was about multiple ideas. Questioning ideas and finding the truth, and not being spoon fed by those in power and the media. Es Devlin talks about “Showing, revealing and deconstructing” (Es Devlin: Stage Design, 2017) which I think is a good way of defining post modernism.
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If we look at Shepard Fairey and his piece “OBEY” it’s a prime example of post modernism. He wants the public and the viewer to question what they ought to OBEY. He says people don’t like to be told to OBEY but don’t mind if its suggested which is what happens daily through media and advertising.
“The concept of OBEY was always about reverse psychology and to encourage people to question obedience.” (Exploring Shepard Fairey’s OBEY projects in Hong Kong with fingercroxx, 2016).
This work was showing the public what was happening around them, revealing the standard and getting them to think and deconstruct the norm.
Keith Haring, Silence = Death (1989). Image courtesy of the New York University Library collection.
Another famous artist of the post modernism era was Keith Haring. He was born in 1958 and died in 1990. The reason Haring was influential was because he used his art to show his audience issues with the current affairs of the time.
“Much of his art was made to protest a wide variety of evils — the dangers of nuclear power, the damage of AIDS and crack cocaine, the destruction of the environment, the abuses of organized religion and corrupt politics, the injustices of homophobia and racism” (Galenson, 2013)
The above image was done to bring awareness to the issues of AIDS and to inform viewers that a percentage of the population were dealing with this problem.
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The photograph above was taken by Jamel Shabazz. The reason I find him vital to the post modernism era was because he documented the streets of New York as they were, not the Utopian view that the modernist era wanted to show. His photographs were “street life in its purest and exhilarating form” (jamel-shabazz, n.d.)
Works Cited
Es Devlin: Stage Design (2017). [Motion Picture].
Exploring Shepard Fairey’s OBEY projects in Hong Kong with fingercroxx. (2016, November 29). Retrieved November 26, 2017, from vimeo.com: https://vimeo.com/193511387
Galenson, D. (2013, May 17). Keith Haring: Rebel With Many Causes. Retrieved November 28, 2017, from huffingtonpost.com: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-galenson/keith-haring-rebel-with-m_b_3293746.html
jamel-shabazz. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2017, from aramanegallery.com: http://www.aramanegallery.com/project/jamel-shabazz
[1] https://store.obeygiant.com/products/obey-offset-posterÂ