Remix Culture: Writing Assignment 1

Postmodernism is quite an interesting school of art that emerged during the 1950s. It was more or less a grand backlash against Modernism, which was all about progress, universality, and technology. I liked how postmodern artists decided to turn those "master narratives" on their head. They dispensed with the idea that there is one, singular, final meaning of a piece of artwork, and instead left that up to the audience to have a humongous role in what the painting is about.

In the article, it explained that much of what we know about postmodern art began with the Dada movement idea of the "readymade." That really rocked my concept of originality and authenticity. I saw that same influence in artists like Andy Warhol, who used copied photographs in large quantities in his paintings. Artists also started combining art-like traditional paintings with popular culture, and I find that really neat. Postmodernism was not one kind of style either. It was actually an attitude and a set of ideas. These artists were not simply painting beautiful pictures; they were saying something about things. They used irony, appropriation, and hybrids of different styles to portray a world that appeared fragmented and one inundated in images from the media. The movement also left space for new voices, allowing feminist and minority artists in and ultimately opening the gate to a more inclusive art world. This reading was great to truly help me understand how this movement actually changed the way we see and speak about art today.