Postmodernism

and
Deconstructivism
(1970–present)
 A style of post-1960s art which rejected
the traditional values and politically
conservative assumptions of its
predecessors, in favour of a wider,
more entertaining concept of art, using
new artistic forms enriched by video
and computer-based technology.
 The term "postmodernist art" refers to a
wide category of contemporary art created
from about 1970 onwards.
 Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern
architecture that began in the late 1980s. Deconstructivism
is influenced by the theory of Deconstruction, which is
a form of semiotic analysis. It is characterized by ideas of
fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a
structure's surface or skin.
 Art without a center and reworking and mixing past styles
 "Postmodernism" is not a movement, it's a general attitude.
 Postmodernism, like modernism, follows most of these same ideas, rejecting boundaries
between high and low forms of art, rejecting rigid genre distinctions, emphasizing pastiche, parody,
bricolage, irony, and playfulness.
 One of the most defining characteristics of deconstructivism is that it challenges conventional
ideas about form and order, as if the designs tried to liberate architecture and art from
preconceived rules. The forms often disturb our thinking and evoke uncertainty and
unpredictability. Through the controlled chaos, they challenge our own preconceptions.
 The designs consist of irregular complex geometries, and the objects are often formed by several
different fragments put together without any apparent order.
 Gerhard Richter
 Cindy Sherman
 Anselm Kiefer
 Frank Gehry
 Zaha Hadid

 "CANDLE", 1982
 You might recognise this work from the cover
of Sonic Youth’s album “Daydream Nation”.
For photorealist paintings like this one, Richter
blurred his motives using brushes, squeegees
or his hands. In his notes, he wrote: “I blur
things so that they do not look artistic or
craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and
perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a
closer fit."
GERHARD RICHTER
Gerhard Richter, (born February 9, 1932,
Dresden, Germany), German painter known for
his diverse painting styles and subjects. His
deliberate lack of commitment to a single
stylistic direction has often been read as an
attack on the implicit ideologies embedded in
the specific histories of painting.
Untitled #209, "History Portrait" Series (1989)
Artwork description & Analysis: In this three-quarter length,
Italian Renaissance-style portrait, Sherman takes on the
CINDY SHERMAN
persona of the Mona Lisa. Donning a 15th-century Italianate
dress, Sherman allies herself with one of art history's most  American photographer and film
famous, iconic paintings. No true replica, the photo is meant director, best known for her
conceptual portraits. Sherman
to call to mind the original, without literally copying it, the currently lives and works in New
mental distance between the real and the imitation just barely York City. Art about the role and
apparent, yet somehow haunting. One might say that representation of women in society,
the media and the nature of the
Sherman suggests that viewers rethink their familiarity with creation of art.
the original and question how its conventions of depiction
continue to condition the way that even we, hundreds of
years later, regard every representation of the "Female."
Varus (1976)
Artwork description & Analysis: Kiefer has stated that "our
stories begin in the forest," so it is not surprising that
forests are a recurring subject matter in his work. The
theme is rich with meaning for the artist, particularly as a
representation of German national identity as far back as
the Teutonic era. It is this period that Varus references: the
battle in the Teutoburg Forest, where in the year 9 BCE
Hermann (Arminius), a deserter from the Roman army, in
alliance with his native Germanic peoples, wiped out the
Romans under the command of Varus, who fell on his
sword after watching his men be massacred.
ANSELM KIEFER
 is a German artist who has explored his
country’s postwar identity, history, and
mythology throughout his career. A painter,
sculptor, and installation artist, materiality
figures heavily into Kiefer’s practice. His
large-scale paintings achieve their
characteristic texture through his liberal
application of pigments combined with found
organic matter, metal, and lead, resulting in
stark, haunting images with an imposing
physicality.
 FRANK GEHRY

 Canadian-American architect. best-known

Gehry was shortlisted to devise a new home for the
Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1988; the project, the
Walt Disney Concert Hall, finally opened in 2003.
Today critics and the public agree that the iconic
building was worth the wait. Reflecting Gehry’s
longtime passion for sailing, the structure’s exterior
features expanses of stainless steel that billow above
Grand Avenue, while inside, similarly shaped panels of
Douglas fir line the auditorium.
works include the titanium-covered
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; MIT
Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los
Angeles; Experience Music Project in
Seattle; Weisman Art Museum
inMinneapolis; Dancing House in Prague;
the Vitra Design Museum and MARTa
Museum in Germany; the Art Gallery of
Ontario in Toronto; the Cinémathèque
française in Paris; and 8 Spruce Street in
New York City.
 ZAHA HADID
Capital Hill Residence was Zaha Hadid's
 Female Iraqi-British Architect. won lots of awards,
only private residential design. Located in
a lot of her things are unrealized.
a forest near Moscow, the $140 million
project is half submerged into the ground.
 Nuclear freeze movement;
The Nuclear Freeze campaign was a mass movement in the United States during the 1980s to secure
an agreement between the U.S. and Soviet governments to halt the testing, production, and
deployment of nuclear weapons.
 Cold War fizzles;
The Cold War defined international diplomacy for half a century and threated humanity with utter
destruction. Communism vs. Capitalism, Sputnik vs. Apollo, and Ivan Drago vs. Rocky, the Cold War
had it all. Here are some PODs concerning this era of 20th century history.
 Communism collapses in Eastern Europe and U.S.S.R. (1989–1991)
A stunning series of events between 1989 and 1991 that led to the fall of communist regimes in
eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Faced with massive popular opposition and the unwillingness
of President Mikhail Gorbachev to send Soviet troops to their rescue, communist governments lost
power, first in Poland, where the communists agreed to free elections that swept into power
candidates endorsed by Solidarity in June 1989.