The limitations of
art are as endless as human
expressionism.
Modernity challenged and
challenges still the old
conventions of
realism and its perspective and
representational culture, which have become the
dominant culture in
society throughout the arts and the
media systems.
Modernism has evolved with advances in technology, which rely upon the capitalist framework of society. The whole chapter of the media industry has seen the audience become a mass of isolated consumers, waiting to be ignited into consumption. The genre of advertising has absorbed the elements of modern art as a method of capturing an audience. An example of this is the advertising agency: BMP DDB, created the popular campaign for the
Volkswagen Golf car. Using the artist: Gillian Wearing’s Turner Art Prize winning concept of ‘what you see isn’t always what you get...
Through the development of science and reason, the Enlightenment brought about the true representations of the world accurately. Perspective and chiaroscuro techniques enabled the world of art to produce such images before the advent of photography and later cinema gave mechanical influences. The quest for producing anti - realistic and conceptually rather than factually based pieces, were then sought after. With non - representational art one has to be aware and conscious of the ideas and concepts within the piece, the audience has to consider the context of viewing as much as the object of viewing.
When a ‘new’ image is presented to an eager public the descriptions of from the past works. During the post - impressionist exhibition in 1910, the British Times newspaper, stated that the modernist work on display would begin where a child ended! The acceptance of modernist art within Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century was not widely appreciated within this conservative culture. Such regressive viewpoints of modern art are still present today, but during the exhibition of 1912 the views of the critics were starting to softened to such abstractions and the focus of reasoning changed towards not what this picture looks like and represents but what does it make us feel?
With social and political change once again featuring in British society today, the avant - garde connoisseurs’ still face critics which appear to be built around the views at the start of this century. The concepts surrounding abstract artworks and associated connotations are still redundant in popular culture. This now poses the question that if it is a problem with the audience for the acceptance of modernism as a popular art format over realism, then should the accessibility be extended beyond the galleries and late night scheduled programmes on the television?
The rise in the popularity of decorating ones home and interior luxuries as a whole within British society highlights how the ‘audiences’ notice art and that it is not only a subject defined through moments of study! The relationship between the media and modernism needs to be analysed in order to see if it is the quality of the artwork, or the hype of sensationalism, that drives the genre of modern art.
The rise in fame of the modern artist Damien Hirst is an example of the popularity of the ‘celebrity’ over the artist. His works have ranged from dead animals, like sheep and sharks positioned in formaldehyde, to arranged boxes of medicine in a cabinet. Labelled as a ‘conceptual artist’, the importance seems not to be the quality of the masterpiece but in the innovations, ideas and associated thoughts to be found outside of the imagery.
The media has followed not only his exhibitions, but also the lifestyle of celebrations and parties. However, within the status obsessed world of the collectors it can be true to follow the view of Meier - Graefe writing back in 1904: “ Art has become like caviar - everyone wants to have it, whether they like it or not!”