Post Modern Art and Diversity of Materials

The Post Modern age of art is one of extreme variety and constant change. For the first time in the history of art, artists are no longer constrained by class, techniques, materials, or even the definition of what art is. Postmodern artists constantly challenge definitions and traditions, always pushing to do something unique. This has resulted in a surge of never before seen creativity in visual arts, ranging from the awe inspiring to the absurd. Today, everyone can be an artist, and they can do it any way they choose. A good friend of mine paints illustrations on book colors. Another friend embroiders. I create inks with pigments I find in nature, and write with a turkey feather quill (don't ask me about it, I'll talk your ear off). My mom hand makes furniture out of found items and scraps of wood. Almost everyone I know dabbles in photography, since modern phone cameras make it so easy.

Artistic freedom is has led to artists all around the globe questioning how far we can really push the limits of how we create art, and what we create it with. Instead of being limited to a few options in mediums, we are now realizing that we can use, well, everything! Fallen leaves, cigarette butts, rocks, chicken wire, Legos, pencil lead, cardboard, recycled plastic bags--nothing is outside the realm of possibility. 

Meet Steven Spazuk, the artist who paints with fire. He uses candles and blowtorches to scorch a design onto his surface, and then paint over top of it. 

This work is titled Angry Bird. It is soot and acrylic on panel and is 20 x 16 inches (Spazuk). I was unable to find a location where this work was created. 

The use of soot gives the work a wispy, almost ethereal appearance, like both the bird and the grenade are smoking. The deep black gives the grenade a deep matte look, which really draws the eye. Though the soot is wispy and looks like it might float right off the page, the acrylic paint solidifies the look and gives it more stability. 

Another artist using unconventional materials is Kendra Haste from the UK, who uses chicken wire as a sculpture medium. 

This is a sculpture she did of a polar bear, created 2010-2011. It is 66(h) x 90(w) x 46(d) in and is installed in front of the Wakefield tower (Davies). Despite the unconventional choice of material, Haste has created a sculpture with an extraordinary level of realism. The polar bear looks as if it might swivel its head around to look at you, or break the chain and walk away. The artist has clearly spent long hours studying anatomy. Even though we can't tell the color of the bear's fur, it is obviously a polar bear. 

Benjamin Shine is an artist who uses tulle fabric as his medium of choice. This piece is titled Flow No. 3. It is tulle on canvas and is 70 x 90 cm(Shine). I was unable to find a location. 

Shine's tulle sculptures evoke a sense of ethereal dreaminess. Despite the fact that all he uses is light, filmy fabric, he is still able to convey depth and form. We can clearly see the contours of the person's lips, nose, and chin. We see the curve of the closed eyelids and forehead, and can even see the eyebrows. The face is so well defined it almost looks like a drawing or painting, but the rest seems to dissolve and float away like smoke, leaving the viewer with a sense of mystery. 

Have you ever spilled a cup of coffee on your work? Guilia Bernardelli's spilled coffee is her work! This artist paints beautiful images with coffee splashed on a surface. 

Bernardelli's main platform is her Instagram page, so I was unable to find any information about when or where this was created. 

She uses her coffee in a fluid, dripping way that reminds the viewer of an accidental spill, but there is nothing accidental about the results. Despite the drippy nature of coffee, Bernadelli's work still displays delicate lines and attention to detail. Her work also show depth and shading. There is nothing clumsy about it, despite the play on spilling your drink. ("Spilled Food Turned Into Beautiful Art By Giulia Bernardelli")

Many post modern artists draw both inspiration and materials from the outdoors. Justin Bateman is an artist based in Thailand who creates beautifully detailed portraits from pebbles. His works are impermanent, as wind, weather, and traffic will eventually disperse the stones, but they live on in photographs. 

Though the works are created with nothing but pebbles and gravel, Bateman manages to bring an extraordinary level of depth and detail to his art. This piece is titled simply Frida Kahlo, and was created in 2021 somewhere in Southeast Asia. (Bateman) When you look closely, the particles making up the work really are just ordinary gravel, but Bateman skillfully arranged them to create form, shadow, shape, and even tone. Frida Kahlo has an intense expression and appears to be looking straight at you. Such is the level of detail that the viewer can see the shapes of her eyelids and the highlights in her eyes. The process to create something like this must have been unbelievably slow and painstaking. 

Some artists go beyond drawing materials from nature, and actively collaborate with it. Toronto based artist Ava Roth creates strikingly unusual mixed media art, with the help of her bees!

The work is encaustic, Japanese paper, tulip tree leaf, embroidery floss, natural honeycomb, in custom local Ontario maple frame and is 17.5 x 17.5 inches. It is titled simply, Magnolia Tree Leaf and French Knots (Roth). This artwork is much more abstract than the others I have discussed, but is no less attractive and beautiful. Something about the simplicity and repeated patterns is undeniably appealing. Instead of trying to achieve complicated patterns, forms, and shading, Roth chooses to elevate the natural beauty of the bee's wax combs. I would love to own this work, especially since my mom is a beekeeper and bees have a special significance to my family. 

As you can see, the post modern age of art is a time of exploration, innovation, and pushing boundaries. Everyone can be an artist, and anything can be art--all you have to do is use a little imagination, and there's no limit to what you can create. I think there's something really amazing about that: ordinary people with ordinary lives using ordinary materials to create breathtakingly beautiful works of art. 

The post modern age has forever changed how we see art, and the artist. Now more than ever, we are free to express ourselves in whatever way feels the most true to us. So, when was the last time you made something beautiful?

References:

Bateman, Justin. "PEBBLEPICASSOS". PEBBLEPICASSOS, 2021, https://landminds.weebly.com/.

Davies, Patrick. "Polar Bear". Patrick Davies CA - Contemporary Art Dealers & Consultants, 2021, https://kendrahaste.com/exhibitions/kendra-haste-mrss_royal-beasts/103/works/detail_polar-bear/.

Roth, Ava. "Magnolia Tree Leaf And French Knots — AVA ROTH". AVA ROTH, 2021, https://www.avaroth.ca/with-thread/tulip-tree-leaf-and-french-knots.

Shine, Benjamin. "Flow - 04 | B E N J A M I N S H I N E". B E N J A M I N   S H I N E, 2021, https://www.benjaminshine.com/flow-04/.

Spazuk, Steven. Spazuk.Com, 2021, https://www.spazuk.com/?pgid=j9zl8qi9-a3d6a1c3-688a-44f0-a0a4-89069f284df6.

"Spilled Food Turned Into Beautiful Art By Giulia Bernardelli". Bored Panda, 2021, https://www.boredpanda.com/spilled-food-art-painting-giulia-bernardelli/?utm_source=duckduckgo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic.