Post-modern artists challenge the traditional concept of creativity on several fronts because they believe that no meaning is fixed that things can have different meanings at different times or to different people. This belief is not only noticeably accepted among my generation but also in a large portion of my student population, especially when we analyze and critique works of working, deceased, and even peer artists. Byrd writes in Post-Modernism: Rules and Systems that Post-Modern Artists proposed that there are multiple truths that all might be true. This type of thinking is very inline with my schools slowly progressing teaching styles. Such as how one of our Math Teachers is allowing students to use any means possible to find the end result of an equation. He is allowing them to use their past knowledge in a different way instead of forcing them to learn one truth about how to get the answer. This happens regularly in the Art room as students know what the requirements of the assignment are but how to process and get to that end product is up to them. We as teachers are allowing them conceptually to form their own truths about concepts, supplies, and materials instead of telling them how to, step by step, all make the same work. In doing this more students can widen their mindset and find value in how they create and be personally happy with the end result. This line of thinking was also accepted by the loosely organized group of Fluxus artists who George Maciunas is historically considered the primary founder and organizer of the movement. These “artists did not agree with the authority of museums to determine the value of art, nor did they believe that one must be educated to view and understand a piece of art. Fluxus not only wanted art to be available to the masses, they also wanted everyone to produce art all the time.” (http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm) I also find that students who have a broader mindset also critique their work and others work with more consideration which falls in line with Roland Barthes who “proposed that perhaps the way we analyze something in a work has just as much to do with ourselves as it does the author, perhaps even more.” (Post Modernism: Rules and Systems by Byrd) In regards to originality on this topic, I find that my students are more adept to manipulate the requirements of an assignment and even when a student finds inspiration from a work of another they easily accept that I want them to put their own spin on the work to create it to be more pertinent to them. This manipulation falls in line with appropriation that both Andy Warhol and John Cage used in their work. Appropriation “is a common strategy in Post-Modern art where the artist uses something that already exists as part of their work. Warhol would use photographs taken from magazines or easily recognizable package designs like Campbell soup cans. For Cage, it might be a recording of something or a song made by someone else. In one work, Cage instructs the performer to select cabaret songs by Erik Satire to perform in the middle of his work. The idea here is that we are surrounded by human-made things.“ (Post Modernism: Rules and Systems by Byrd) As the artist, Yoko Ono said “Artists must not create more objects. The world is full of everything it needs.” and with this thought, one can assume that teaching students to manipulate and apply what is already available to them has great importance to continue the growth of society into a more understanding global community. ResourcesPost Modernism: Rules and Systems by Byrd
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