Urban Animals - Art Gallery of Alberta

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Post Modernism: A Brief Analysis
The paintings of Jason Carter in the exhibition Urban Animals are most clearly influenced
by the art movements of abstraction/modernism and pop art. The simplification and
emphasis on the flatness of the picture plane, seen in many of his works, speak to
modernism while the use of bold flat colours are a hall-mark of pop art. In all of his works,
however, he also demonstrates clear influences from the territory of Postmodernism in
the arts.
Postmodern Art is a term used to describe
art movements which both arise from, and
react against or reject, trends in
modernism. The traits associated with the
use of the term postmodern in art include
bricolage, the use of words prominently as
the central artistic element, collage,
simplification, appropriation, depiction of
consumer or popular culture and
Performance Art.
Al McWilliams
Appearances, 1986
Photograph on board
Collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta
In painting postmodernism reintroduced representation and traditional techniques to art making.
Postmodernism rejects modernism’s grand narratives of artistic direction, removes the
boundaries between high and low forms of art, and disrupts genre’s conventions with collision,
collage, and fragmentation.
Specific trends of modernism generally cited are formal purity, medium specificity, art for art’s
sake, authenticity, universality, originality and revolutionary or reactionary tendencies, ie. the
avant-garde. Many institutions argue that being visionary, forward-looking, cutting-edge, and
progressive are crucial to the mission of art. Postmodernism, on the other hand, rejects the
notion of advancement or progress in art per se, and thus aims to overturn the ‘myth of the
avant-garde’. It also rejects modernism’s grand narratives of artistic direction, eradicating the
boundaries between high and low forms of art, and disrupting genre’s conventions with collision,
collage, and fragmentation. Irony, parody and humor are important ingredients in postmodern
works.
Many movements and trends in art throughout the 20th century are seen as precursors to
postmodernism. With the introduction of the use of industrial artifacts in art and techniques such
as collage, avant-garde movements such as Cubism, Dada and Surrealism questioned the
nature and value of art. These movements in turn were influenced by new artforms such as
cinema and the rise of reproduction as a means of creating artworks. Other modern movements
influential to postmodern art are Pop Art, Minimalism, conceptual art and the use of techniques
such as assemblage, montage, and appropriation.
Unlike modern art, with its constant reinvention, postmodern art has a number of
movements within it. One of these is a return to classical painting and sculpture. A second
movement is termed Conceptual art. Conceptual art is sometimes labelled postmodern because
it is expressly involved in deconstruction of what makes a work of art ‘art’. Because it is often
AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479
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