States of Art: Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper

Postmodern Perspectives

This selection of Postmodern works demonstrates two subsets of a complex and diverse cultural movement. Postmodernism comprises a considerable range of artistic interests and approaches that express, on the one hand, a continuation of modernist concerns, and on the other, a rejection of preceding artistic values. Neoexpressionism represents a return to the painterly aesthetic of Abstract Expressionism with a more pronounced reliance on figuration and narrative subject matter. Critical Postmodernism reevaluates the role of art and the artist in contemporary culture, deconstructing concepts such as artistic originality and the universal subject. The issues raised by Postmodernism remain central to the work of many contemporary artists, such as those exhibited here.

Neoexpressionism developed in Europe in the 1960s and appeared in the United States in the 1980s. Born and raised in Communist East Berlin, Georg Baselitz (b. 1938) is often considered the leading figure in German Neoexpressionism. In 1958, he moved to West Berlin and joined a group of artists, writers and intellectuals seeking to come to terms with the nation's past. Baselitz applied the painterly techniques of Abstract Expressionism to the depiction of the human body. From 1969 on, he inverted his figures, as demonstrated by the untitled charcoal drawing of 1979, in an attempt to disrupt the complacency of contemporary German identity. In the U.S., Eric Fischl (b. 1948) questions the cultural hegemony of the American middle class and probes suburbia's more sinister aspects through sexual innuendo and erotic ambiguity, as seen in both the large oil of 1985 and the watercolor of 1989.

Critical Postmodernist artists, like their Pop Art predecessors, incorporate readily available imagery to examine the role of mass media and the function of representation in contemporary culture. Robert Longo (b. 1953) examines the urban sphere and corporate culture through the visual language of the advertising industry. With his ongoing series of sleek, highly contoured figures, he twists the imagery of fashion photography to present individuals in turmoil. Another American artist, Sherrie Levine (b. 1947), appropriates directly from the work of major artists to challenge artistic authority and question the limits of originality. Working from exhibition catalogues and other reproductions, she photographs or otherwise replicates works by figures such as Walker Evans, Marcel Duchamp, and most recently Georgia O'Keeffe. Levine's series of re-presented images epitomize the poststructuralist tendencies of postmodernism. Representation is replaced by reproduction; the original subject and concept are superseded by a succession of copies.


Jessica Gersh
Leila Hirvonen
Robert Longo
American (b. 1953)
Untitled, 1982
Graphite
Private Collection

Robert Longo began producing a series of large-scale images of recoiling, contorted figures in the 1980s. In this body of work, he presents the contemporary urban everyman (or woman), writhing or simply dancing in dynamic poses that sharply contrast with their conventional office attire. His figures' postures respond to the underlying tensions of contemporary society, particularly those of the cut-throat corporate realm. With eyes closed, these individuals seem unable to resist the pull of unseen forces. Longo's images borrow from fashion photography and mass media. Ironically, the artist's use of pop culture imagery has itself been re-appropriated by the advertising industry. Apple's iPod dancers, silhouetted in energetic movement, clearly reference the artist's figures, albeit without connotations of distress or violence.

Leila Hirvonen
Eric Fischl
American (b. 1948)
Untitled, 1989
Watercolor on paper
Private Collection

Eric Fischl deconstructs the suburban leisure experience of the upper middle class. His ambiguous, figurative compositions deliberately confront the viewer. In this watercolor of 1989, Fischl paints a mysterious beach scene imbued with racial and sexual connotations. The nude female seems unaware of the male presence as his body towers over her. The dark shadow that bathes the male figure appears threatening. The black male body, in the act of dressing or undressing, is stereotypically athletic and eroticized, while her pose recalls the calm, classicizing female nude. The image evokes an unsettling eroticism, implying some kind of sexual violence.

Jessica Gersh
Sherrie Levine
American (b. 1947)
After Fernand Léger, 1984
Watercolor
Private Collection

Sherrie Levine's watercolor replicates a work by the twentieth century French artist, Fernand Léger. By appropriating the earlier artist's image, Levine challenges the notion of artistic originality. Most likely working from a reproduction, Levine presents yet another in a series of copies. As her work is likely based on a lithographic print, produced mechanically, the manual process of painting used here introduces Levine's own hand to the image, complicating the question of authorship. Adding further complexity to her images, Levine, positioned as a "female artist," often chooses to appropriate the work of canonical male artists of the early to mid-twentieth century. By re-presenting the works of major artistic figures of the past, Levine consciously addresses issues of gender while calling attention to postmodern concerns regarding authenticity.

Leila Hirvonen