Modernism is dead

If I haven’t already said this on this blog, I’ve meant to: Modernism is dead. I ran across this very interesting article today elaborating on this fact:

“Modernism is dead. It was a movement dedicated to absolute originality and its last utterly unprecedented expression was the American abstract painting of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and their generation just after the second world war. Perhaps by bringing modernism to such a pitch of authority and at the same time inscrutability, these artists ended it – even as they became famous, a new American generation was looking back to early 20th-century art in a way that was more self-aware, intellectual and sophisticated – and at some level less ambitious.”

I have wondered in the past if there aren’t a number of present day artists with modern ideas in their head, driving their work. It seems to me this is the case based on my intuitive, unscientific observations. I’m not hear to say that’s wrong; every artist, in my own opinion, must find and execute their own Divine commission which is not necessarily in line with current or historical triends, teaching or -isms.

The article also talks about how artistic judgments are so tricky. It’s well worth reading.