Postmodern Art

Postmodern art is an artistic movement that typically is described as either arising after or in response to modern art . Although this term enjoys widespread usage, there is disagreement among critics about whether postmodern art actually exists as a distinct movement or whether it is simply a later phase of modern art.

Critical definitions of postmodern art differ regarding whether postmodernism, if it exists at all, is a historical condition or an intentional movement.

Thematically, works of art that are classified as postmodern often address consumer culture, popular culture, globalization, the juxtaposition of high and low art and the role and value of art in society.

Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture entitled The Fountain is sometimes cited as an early example of postmodern art. This work was first submitted to an art exhibition in New York City in 1917, where it sparked a controversy about the nature of art.

According to Duchamp, the urinal became art when he chose to call it art, meaning that an object’s status as a work of art is dependent upon context and perception.

By refusing to acknowledge distinctions between high art and lowbrow art — for example, comic book illustration or graffiti art — postmodern artists further break down class distinctions in the hierarchy of art criticism.

Postmodern art rejects the high valuation of authenticity and originality in modernism, asserting instead that there can be no more innovation or progress in art.