Similar to the Walter Benjamin
piece, I really enjoyed this reading because whenever I read things that go far
in depth with art, I can’t help but make connections to pretty much everything
that I have learned in my Contemporary Art & Theory course. This
idea/concept of the Sublime is astonishing to me and in particular made me
think of the abstract expressionist, Mark Rothko. I will also attach a very
interesting article at the end of my post if anyone is interested in reading it.
It is called “Stirring Images: Fear, Not Happiness or Arousal, Makes Art More
Sublime.”
In the beginning of “Answering the
Question: What is Postmodernism?,” we are introduced to this idea that
Neoconservatives no longer want experimentation with regards to art. This is
insane to me! It made me immediately think of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain.” To
no surprise, the Salons and Academies rejected the “fountain” which
was actually an upside down urinal. The piece went against the traditional
works of art and became something so powerful! To this day, Duchamp’s Fountain
has provided us with a concept known as the Readymade. So how can you say you don’t want
experimentation? From my perspective, experimentation is everything in the art
world—especially when looking at contemporary art.
Aside from that tangent, I mention
Mark Rothko because his art is so simple, yet is known for triggering a strong
emotional response. Typically, his paintings are very large-scale and consist
of just a few colors. I have actually seen one in person and can honestly say,
they do give you some sort of feeling, I just can’t put my tongue on what it
is. And maybe that’s the idea of the sublime—that I can’t explain it or put a
word to it. This reading was interesting for me because I think when I go to
critique very abstract art now, I’m going to add another layer of perspective
with regards to this idea of the sublime. Attached are a couple of my favorite
Rothko paintings and the article I mentioned above J
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