Postmodern Art, for me, was difficult to fully grasp and put into words, but here’s my swing at it nonetheless. I think that being the art of today, having started in the 1960s, it’s conceptual and meant to be analyzed as what it stands for, not what it looks like. Unlike Modernism’s clear statement, Postmodern Art strives to challenge the viewer with a wide array of questions and/or to have them relate to the piece somehow. Many Postmodern works focus on stereotyping politics, picketing and controversy. I feel the viewer should have some sort of an education in order to fully appreciate the work.

Feminist Art or Feminism is considered Post Modern because it’s so controversial. A lot of it has to do with how we look at women (due to the media) compared to reality (how we really look). In other words, how we see ourselves compared to how we perceive art. It was also a major component to Postmodernism.

Contemporary American photographer, Cindy Sherman’s photographs definitely categorize her as Post Modern. What I think most classifies her as Post Modern is the fact that she uses herself as the subject in her photographs. The way I look at it, “If you want something done right, you’ve gotta do it yourself”. She tests not only herself, but her audience. She challenges herself in that she plays a completely different character symbolizing a certain class or role in each photograph. She tests her audiences to connect what they see to experiences or to make references.

For my final Drawing II project, I thought I would go with a 3 piece composition. I’ve done a 1, 2 and even 4 so I thought I’d try something a tad new. In order to stick with my concept, I went to the library and interviewed a stranger on each floor…upper, middle, and lower. I plan to have 3 horizontal-rectangular pieces placed one above the other as to symbolize the levels in which I found them at the library. The artist that I found Ray Barkus, relates more to my form. His current piece is a 3 series drawing on identity. I feel that my works will focus mainly identity seeing as that’s my strongest idea. Barkus is using identity by meticulously copying versions of important documents and other objects that should not be copied (passports, credit cards, currency, etc…). He is combining the practices of medieval monks with the practical jokes of some conceptual artists. Now that I think about it, I will be trying to modernize a well-known idea in my work, similar to Barkus.