Victoria Carlos
Taci Chin Robinson
Grace Giberson
Joshua Roquemore
Katie Whitworth
Period 3
Team 8
Postmodern Era Synthesis Question
#2
Just as Freud influences the writings of James Joyce, Freud influenced the
paintings of Pollock and Warhol. Why were these artists so profoundly
influenced by Freud, and how did it affect their meaning/message?
Postmodern
art emerged as a contradiction to that of the recent-past, with artists such as
Pollock and Warhol emerging as successful artists during their lifetimes.
Postmodern art delves into the unconscious mind’s operation. Where modern
artworks, such as Picasso, stuck to a certain structures, like cubism, to
portray a social ideology. The modern artworks strived to reach a more personal
and internal message.
Freud
introduced the idea of the Id, Ego, and Superego as the three components of the
mind, which compose the human personality. The Id is the ever-present personality
that is entirely unconscious responding only to primitive stimulus; the Ego is
the shared personality and the conscious perception of the world, and the
superego which contains morals.
Warhol
was a famed pop, popular culture, artist; he often used everyday images as well
as repetition in his artwork. His work could be thought of trying to reflect
the ego, in the way it takes images and mutes their importance to protect the
Id and Superego. Warhol who survived an attempted murder said, “The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things
really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel
anything”.
Pollock
was an artist of another movement called abstract expressionism, a movement
from easel painting, to raw canvas floor painting with a mixture of techniques
and mediums. Abstract expressionism was a highly personal and spontaneous form
of art that in Pollock’s work can be seen by the marks of rapid movements.
What Freud, Warhol, and Pollock have in common are their
works being centered on and displaying aspects of human personality.
Great job on your assessment of Freud's three points of psychoanalysis. However, our team took a different perspective on how the artists utilized these characteristics. It seems like the artists were trying to promote the Id at the expense of the superego and ego. For example, Andy Warhol would often paint very simple objects such as a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup to suggest humans are primal in the sense they respond to simple urges. It mocks the contemporary theories of superego because, no matter how it is packaged, it is still a can of soup. This type of commentary can also be seen in Reginald Pollack’s painting, Peace March. At first glance, it seems like the painting would be the perfect representation of superego, due to the great morals promoted in the march. Unfortunately, as one delves deeper, it becomes understood that the march is merely masking the atrocities occurring in Vietnam. The Id of dominance and survival cannot be overcome. In the end, your synthesis was well-written. Our team especially enjoyed your quote by Warhol.
ReplyDeleteTeam 4: Cody Dunn, Stephen Hwang, Tyler Wong, Carlton Lew, Rin Sone