Postmodernism: A cultural revival

Modernism swept through the world with the varieties of weapons such as posters, paintings, architecture and literature. It was all about rejection and revolution. Everything and anything perhaps considered as art. Simplicity had become the main street for every new artists. There were many kind of simplicity arrived during that period. However it brought some disadvantages as well which is the missing line of history. Human loves connection to its past and abandoning it all together later proved to be a wrong move. Now we can see how contemporary architects are trying to make culturally infused architecture rather than plain simple modern buildings. If you are interested please look at the work of Frank Gehry (his UTS business school soon to be completed may be in 2014, is a representation of aboriginal buildings through his vision of course), Jean Nouvle one of his work is Islamic Institure du monde Arabe in France. And many other architects place their cultural priority at first than their desire or philosophy. This obviously has been learnt from the mistakes of modern movement. And the pioneer of this teaching is the postmodernist architects. To name some, Robert Venturi, Charles Moore and Aldo Rossi. 

 

Post modernism had grown more than art and architecture, It became a lifestyle for those who fell in love with it. It came in as a heavy reaction to the modernist cold effort to revitalize the civilization. Postmodernism explore all the options that are available in the area of interest. Let it be art or architecture post modernist designers will pursue history and research as their base point. From their they will mix up the new found technology in their work. So it has both referential points and contemporary techniques. 

What made them so different is not the mix but the philosophical stand point against modernism. Post modernist architects opposed that modernism does not care about humans rational side or psychological needs. This had created a hollow in the society. In order to lessen this problem designers need to find a new way of doing things. That new way is to create things that relates to something. It includes all the functional items and fundamental rules but it did things in a different way.

Integration between Art and Architecture

Couple of weeks ago i asked my tutor Christie Cooper two questions. One was why do we paint or create art? I asked her this question during our excursion in Sydney Modern. I was so overwhelmed with the amount of art works and photography that i was literally lost of words and feelings. I was struggling to absorb all these meaning. As this blog is a reflection of me so i can honestly say that i avoided few good arts just because it did not fall into the right side of my belief and ideology. I think in this type of situation i or we as coming designers must stay strong. Going against your personal beliefs can only create illusion and confusion at later stage. And at this stage of my life i know how to reject politely.  One example is the color band based on music. I find it very very abstract and useless to do so. Representational paintings and abstract expressionism paintings have different appeal to me. So i can easily avoid anything that i don’t like or not into.

So lets come back to the question. Initially my tutor struggled to answer my question and she promised me to answer it in a week. After a week she told me that she paints because she wants to capture a moment or expression. She also loves to express herself through her paintings. This answer seemed ok to me. I had asked her this question because every time i start to paint i feel lost and i ask myself why am i doing this? who am i doing it for? these questions made me frustrated for few times. Now i can paint for myself, for my families and friends and for general people. 

 

My second question was how can we integrate Art into architecture? 

Haven’t received any answer just yet but i think i found more than half of the answer by myself. I was reading a book named Thinking Architecture By Peter Zumthor. Zumthor is a Swiss architect famous for his holistic approach towards design. His buildings speak for itself. His works is not extravagant but not entirely minimalist either. His vision is to create more well thought out design. 

In that book he talks about his influence and approach to any design. He noted that Arte Povera was great influence for him. Their expression through paintings taught him how to bring emotion in the composition. Zumthor works to connect the sensuousness in the building. This alone can make a building memorable. He also liked Joseph Beuys sculptures. Zumthor always concentrates on the edges and corners of a structure. Because those are the places where human eyes mostly go to settle. Human brain always look for a place to rest on, so scattered details can distract and lose the cohesion. Peter dedicated his life to design structures that looks like it was there from the beginning. This kind of thought are always present in sculptures and art installations. They work to give us a sense of being. 

I think that should be My if not our approach to design a building or installation. I should provide the emotional satisfaction to the user which is shaped by technical and standard rules and regulations. This where architecture and sculpture made their different ways.

Photography as i am learning it

Today photography has become more like an everyday chores. We take photographs here and there and with the power of social networking site such as google+, flickr or 500px and many more billions of photos are uploaded online every week. So how do i find my inspiration out of a billion photos?

When i first bought my beloved pentax k-5 i thought i will become a great photographer within few months. I was following the great photographers online and reading their blogs regularly. Reading and analyzing their photos helped me to understand the techniques and composition. But real photography was yet to discover.

 I almost forgot that photography is actually an art form like painting. I took a month break from taking any photos and read photographers story on how they became a photographer. What was their perspectives and intention. Almost all of them wanted to be an artist through photography some did fine art photography some did landscape and portrait; But the idea is same, they want to do art and photography was just a method. 

Now i shoot less regularly but when i shoot i take all the preparation beforehand as if i am going to do painting. I check my camera, i research my location, read books about the type of photography i want to do and then analyze good photos. Only after than i start shooting. This process was first done before my second street photography shoot. And the results are not great but it certainly shows the glare of improvement.

I also use the same process for doing anything creative, let it be model making or painting; i follow good artists and their work and then start my own.  One thing to remember though, there is a very fine line between influence and copy.