Essay On Post Modernism

Introduction

Modern movements in Europe influenced by World War in the past years brought about the aesthetics of modern design and machine aesthetics to the early 20th and 21st century designs. Modernism and post modernism are movements, more likely, periods, which influenced modern art and design during these centuries. A progressive account of the understanding the impact both periods had on modern aesthetics, machine aesthetics and modern art and design will be compiled, including other theories which relate to the modern period.

The European Background

It was not long till designers realized the advantage given to them and the opportunity to expand productions by means of machine work. Machine products began to possess an aesthetic derived confrontation between function and form. Designers were known to impart form upon a formless or useless material or, if possible, a set of materials, which would result on these materials to make more sense and be significant. Although a designer’s intention was and still is to facilitate production and

Reacting against Modernism, Post modernism was sought to be negative and to reject the visual purism of the modern movement. Postmodern theories and aesthetics presuppose that all knowledge and sphere of human consciousness and existence are subjects of the laws of relativity. A major concept in postmodern theories is Plurality. Plurality or pluralism was the postmodern purist of a democratic art, which extended beyond reproduction, appropriation and experiments, such are examples of philosophies by Michel Foucault and Antonio Gramsci. Postmodernism used the collage technique which was frequently used in the Dadaist movement and also used Dadaist ready-mades to express and portray their work. Two major artist involved in postmodernism are Andy Warhol and Umberto Boccioni. An example of an artwork that includes Dadaist ready-mades is Umberto Boccioni’s The City