Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Hassold, Cris
Keywords
Contemporary, Postmodernism, Human Body Art
Area of Concentration
Art History
Abstract
I argue that contemporary artists and their audiences focus on the unidealized, human body to move beyond the conceptual seriousness and vigorous deconstructing of the postmodern period into a constructivist cultural phenomenon identified as post-postmodernism. I have classified the featured artists as transfiguration artists: those who change the Western canon so as to glorify or exalt marginalized body types such as the aged, pregnant, adolescent, and abject; artists who personally change in outward form or appearance to espouse "other"-ed identities; and, artists who wish to transform global viewpoints by incorporating the audience and thereby encouraging constructivist collaborative elaboration, as influenced by Jean Piaget's theories. These artists clearly follow the post-postmodernist agenda to destabilize traditional social conventions that stem from the hierarchy of the Western canon. I frame this within the larger issue of globalization and the desire to accept all reality constructions and interpretations of reality as valid and truthful.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Claire, "Contemporary Post-Postmodernism Transfiguring the Imperfect Human Body" (2012). Theses & ETDs. 4615.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4615