(real) urban ku # 54 ~ contemplation
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 10:21AM 
Contemplating the meaning of art • click to embiggenIt has been opined that '...the central core of the post-modernist gobble-de-gook (or post-post-modernist, if you prefer) is that if you make photographs that are considered "pretty" or depict an "idealized form", you are not, by definition, "thinking"? If all of your work is not a horribly obvious metaphor for how bad the human condition currently is, then somehow you "don't get it". So said Paul Maxim on ku # 471.
IMO, this statement does not represent the 'core' of postmodernist art/photography. It is more representative of the 'lunatic fringe' of postmodernism. As I and many others have stated, postmoderism is not easy to pigeonhole. It really doesn't have a rigid and defining set of operating principles. In practice, postmodernism is so diverse that it has been described as being simply 'pluralistic'.
In any event, in my recently stated 'manifesto' for what others have dubbed a "New Landscapist', I have called for a more 'hopeful' form of critical thought. One that is not afraid of things beautuful (although the notion of 'traditional' beauty will be challenged). One that starts to move beyond the self-referential 'visual navel-gazing' excesses that have dominated much of postmodern - but far from all - art/photography.
In that light, consider this poem, titled "August 24, 1961', by former Secretary-General of the U.N., Dag Hammerskjold;
Is it a new country
In another world of reality
Than Day's?
Or did I live there
Before Day was?
I awoke
To an ordinary morning with gray light
Reflected from the street.
But (I) remembered
The dark-blue night
Above the tree line,
The open moor in moonlight
The crest in shadow.
Remembered other dreams
Of the same mountain country:
Twice I stood on its summits,
I stayed by its remotest lake,
And followed the river
Towards it source.
The seasons have changed
And the light
And the weather
And the hour.
But it is the same land.
And I begin to know the map
And to get my bearings.
PS - the mural in the right-hand picture is titled 'The Two Andys' - Andy Warhol and 'Andy' Carnegie, both Pittsburgh natives.
Reader Comments (3)
Love that triptych, especially the two bookend images, which have a very powerful feel to them.
Chuck
I agree, but I really like the photo in the middle, Marc,it's very good how you are depicting such a gloomy atmosphere. The way the man with the white hat is standing there, so melancholicly. Did you stage, or did you just capture it.
I hope do not offend you by asking this.
Hey Jaap - no offense taken.
The man in the white hat is my son Aaron - the Cinemascape guy. He and I were out looking for graffiti. I was picturing, he was scouting for locations for some Cinemascapes.