Author

Claire Jones

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.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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