Postmodern Characteristics Works Of Young British Artists Cultural Studies Essay

Post juvenile Characteristics solely kit Of spring chicken British Artists Cultural Studies EssayGot their fame in the early 1990s, the boor deal British Artists (YBAs) is known as a group of highly tell British avant-garde artists active from the late 1980s (Chilvers, 1999). In this explore essay, the works of two leading artists of the YBAs, Marcus Harvey and Damien Hirst, will be menti nonpareild and analyzed in spite of appearance the context of postmodernististist theories. The evident postmodern characteristics world discussed in the 4 art pieces is pluralism.Marcus Harvey (1963-now) is an English artist and painter and a leading process of YBAs his pieces cited and analyzed in this essay are Myra (Fig. 1) and john Roll (Fig. 2). some(prenominal) of the two pics are the representation of an object with blurred lines and pieces, seemingly as if the macro images are composed by tiny units and sections. The composition of the paintings and the blurred impressions has largely corresponded to the substance of pluralism in postmodern theories.Damien Hirst (1965-now) is a close booster amplifier of Marcus Harvey, he is the almost prominent member of YBAs and most of his works management on the theme of Death (National G on the wholeeries of Scotland n.d.). In this essay, two of his works being analyzed are the painting LSD (Fig. 3) and the sculpture For the Love of beau ideal (Fig.4). In these two art pieces, LSD is constructed using a football field of dots of incompatible colors while For the Love of God is consisted of human skull, platinum, and diamond. These pieces expound how iodine elements push aside produce new meanings when being composed in concert or re-arranged, similar as Harveys works, these art pieces are also a reflection of pluralism in postmodern viewpoint.In postmodernism, the word pluralism is generally utilise to describe the multiplicity of meaning and the status of a mixture and rowdyism (Bohman 1999) of cult ure, identities, ideologies, worldviews, religions etc. in postmodern era, it embraces the idea of fragmentation or incoherence in modern-day world.BodyPluralism is literally defined as the graphic symbol or state of being plural (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010), which is in contrary of dualism. As we learned from the course, pluralism inwardly postmodern practice is not only probable within its political content but also in the strategies, processes and the styles within the works themselves. Looking back to all the theories and argumentations on postmodernism, it is easily spy that the common ground among all the discourses is to admit the chaos, disorder, fragmentation, and even meaningless of all subject from my perspective, the balance of disorder and order is a representation of what we called pluralism.Doubtlessly, pluralism has make a dominant tendency in every aspect of modern life in the backdrop of globalization and commercialization tide. According to M ilbrandt (2003), the characteristics of postmodern world have directly triggered the emergence of popular culture and postmodern art forms such as visual art, on the other hand, abstract barriers between so-called high and low culture have lowly down due to the evolution of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). In whiz word, to study todays artistic creations in turns of different postmodern characteristics, such as pluralism, will provide us a comprehensive understanding of postmodernism theories as well as postmodern lives/practices.Speaking of the arena of art, more specifically, the YBAs, those abstract artists, painters, sculptors and installation artists are noted for their shocking and creative tactics in making art and as reported by The Guardian (14 June 2000), they dominate the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. By analyzing the quadruplet works I cited in this essay, I hold the viewpoint that as typical Young British Artists works, those art pieces fr om Marcus Harvey and Damien Hirst have notably demonstrated and reflected the qualities of pluralism.Myra (Fig. 1) is one of the most famous and disputed works by Marcus Harvey, it is the portrait of a child killer Myra Hindley re get tod from multiple copies of childrens handprints. In this artwork, numerous childrens handprints seem to cover and pincer at Hindleys face and shape a unique situation on the one hand, the image of her face is composed by those handprints while on the other hand, those tiny palms also obliterate her features. It is commended by The Guardian spend (Burn, 1997) that this artwork brings the chill of horror we feel but can seldom express and suggests the coolness that is, the affectless-ness the leaving of sensation the stray the cold stoniness in the work itself. Connecting it with postmodern theories, one can easily catch the reek of pluralism in Myra. As Hughes (2004) and Knoper (2008) summarized (though the idea is originated from Lyotard), postm odern art represents the death of so-called meta-narratives maintained in modern society and adopts pluralism to replace dualism, thus clear a wiz of chaos and disorder in meanings. Such is what we ascertain from the controversial artwork Myra, in which the tiny units are both creating and destroying the whole iconic image, based on this, varied and more in-depth meanings are conveyed.Toilet Roll (Fig. 2) is another artwork by Marcus Harvey and from which we can also happen evidence of pluralism. Ang (2006) points erupt that, the status of pluralism and the imitation of an existed style lead to things like pastiche (an empty copy), which is an idea that suggests little of the implied depth. Toilet Roll the painting is a reflection of such death of depth I in person dont think the image in this artwork conveys much aesthetic delight, nor it is as meaningful and thought provoking as Myra. However, when we look at the haired images and small blocks in the picture, a sense of mea ningless and confusion is generated in readers mind. In other words, from my perspective, no/little value or meaning is the meaning of this work.LSD (Fig. 3) by Damien Hirst might be the one among the four artworks that represents pluralism most apparently and directly a grid of dots of different colors, a simple mixture of plural elements. Similar to many postmodern paintings, one cannot easily grasp what the artist wants to express in this painting. Villeneuve Erickson (2008) point out that contemporary art cannot be judged simply by whether they are depictive or attractive, and contemporary artists tend to use unconventional materials and conform to problematical topics (such as sexuality, patriotism, and religion), which all present obstacles in understanding. So as to LSD, readers can have numerous interpretings to the grid of dots from varied perspectives. Those perceptions express the complex and different cultural backgrounds and social identities of the appreciators as well create the multi-dimensionality in interpretation (Song, 2009), which reveals a broader pluralism beyond the painting format itself. to a fault, the interdisciplinary mediations and analysis (Traf-Prats, 2009) of contemporary art also reflects the spirit of pluralism (i.e. the interpretation of LSD may touch upon the field of music, political science, cultural studies, religious studies, etc.).For the Love of God (Fig.4) is a sculpture by Damien Hirst produced in 2007, it consists of human skull, platinum cast, and 8,601 diamonds (Hirst unveils 50m diamond skull, 2007). Besides the value of the material itself, the artistic value of this sculpture is also precious. George Steiner (2001) claimed in his book Grammars of Creation, the age such as ours is an age of ugliness the violence, oppression, frugal enslavement and social irrationality. And this artwork For the Love of God shows a promise for beauty in this age of ugliness and death and is a riposte of respect for God ( Moore, 2004). The materials used in this sculpture are shock, contrast and creative, and when Hirst constitutes the skull, the platinum, and the diamonds together, they successfully create new meanings with sharp impacts such is an aspect of pluralism, that the single distinct elements can produce an organic whole.ConclusionIn conclusion, all these four art pieces analyzed in this essay is a earnest demonstration of pluralism in postmodern context. As artistic works created by British avant-garde artists in the post-1990s era, they successfully used some tactics and gimmicks to produce and convey what I would call a sense of folderal and a sense of confusion and shock to the audience. It is not surprising that all the works can easily find a niche in postmodern interpretations, not only because they were produced in the context and with the idea of postmodern thoughts, but also because we are trying to read them from a postmodern perspective.Nonetheless, although it is hard to el aborate in details what aesthetic feelings or experiences they create to audience, because each individual has his/her own judgment on artistic (especially postmodern artistic) works and also because postmodern fine art is often anti-aesthetic, it is unruffled possible to reach a better understanding of them besides the sense of nonsense, confusion and shock. From my perspective, those works in general expressed the artists concern on the spurt of modern technology, industrialization and commercialization, as well as the loss of meaning and depth in postmodern way of life, which are the deathless focuses of all forms of postmodern fine art.