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Summary Themes of Contemporary Art - Chapter 2: Identity
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Summary of the book Themes of Contemporary Art by Robertson & McDaniel. Contains the entire chapter 2: identity.
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Summary Themes of Contemporary Art – Chapter 2: Identity- The postwar generation strove to express their personal feelings and their sense of
their own radical individuality Q like: what does it mean to be human?
- For some artists, the true self was a self-directed, free individual. The ideal was an
integrated, stable, unique self who acts independently with meaningful intentions
and a coherent inner psychology.
- Some refer to the belief in the inner self as liberal humanism: where answers to the
question of what it is to be human are phrased in terms of philosophical concepts like
“consciousness” and “self-knowledge”, emphasizing the significance of the self.
- 1980s/1990s: artists emerged that expressed their identity regarding their position in
a group. Their understanding of identity reached beyond personal experiences and
feelings. Their attention was also turned to spectatorship: how identity is formed by
the way other people see you. They analysed how identity is constructed through the
larger society’s beliefs and prejudices.
- James Luna embraces a collective identity through correcting misconceptions and
unmask stereotypes about Native Americans (like him) by his performances. He
shows this for example in The Artifact Piece, 1987, in which he displays himself as a
living human artifact.
- Performance is an effective medium in the theme of identity, as an artist can
embody and enact aspects of identity that are linked to physical appearance,
gestures and behaviours. But identity is expressed by other means as well; by words,
symbols, objects and settings.
A focus on Identity in Art History
- Two genres within the Western tradition with enduring histories: the portrait and the
self-portrait. They are both major demonstrations of artistic fascination with the
theme of identity.
- Each artist of talent that took up one of these genres, did so in a way that revitalized
the traditions. Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon are post-war examples.
- But this interest in self-portraiture is not limited to the West: Chinese artist Ah Xian
has explored ideas of Chinese identity and his own cultural displacement. His China-
China series of porcelain body-cast busts, combines a Western sculptural portrait
tradition with traditional Chinese ceramic techniques.
- A deep connection between art and human identity has existed throughout art
history: how the world views you, how you view yourself and others, have influenced
artists’ ideas, emotions and creative expressions throughout history. Changes in
history, like revolutions, have altered how humans understood themselves. These
changes highly influence artists.
- Recent and ongoing changes in concepts of identity mirror the dramatic and decisive
interactions in other periods.
Identity is Collective and Relational
- The expression of personal identity was a key theme in artistic production in the
United States and Europe after WW2. Identity meant individual identity to the
postwar generation.
- This belief was questioned by the 1960s. Roland Barthes challenged the individual
self-determination and self-expression independent of society. He claimed that there
, is no single, unchanging meaning for any text. He was thus sceptical of the emphasis
on singular identity.
- Late 20th century: when artists and writers on art refer to the term identity they
referred to social and cultural identity formed in relationship to other people and to
social and political forces. Q: who am I as a member of a group I identify with?
- Carrie Mae Weems addressed the collective identities in her Kitchen Table Series:
untitled photographs of a woman protagonist sitting at the kitchen table. The role of
history and photography is illustrated.
- Discussions & exhibitions in the 1980s and 1990s fell into the categories of gender,
race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, matching with political movements.
- In Europe, artworks often reflected class values and – identities.
Identity Politics
- Exhibitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s turned a spotlight on identity
collectively debate on the value, ethics and meaning of art and exhibitions that
engage issues of identity.
- Two exhibitions were mainly important in this issue: the Magiciens de la Terre in
Paris (1989) and Whitney Biennial (1993). Artists were grouped in two broad identity
groups: western and non-western.
- Magiciens de la Terre showed contemporary artists from previously colonized
cultures in Africa, Oceania and elsewhere. The exhibition was criticized for
romanticizing artists from cultures outside the West and turning them into exotic
“others” in comparison to the “mainstream” western artists.
- The Whitney Biennial was likewise criticized for creating overly simplified identity
categories and for upholding a political tone.
- Critic Lucy Lippard embraced the turn to group identities in the 1980s book: Mixed
Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America in which she brought attention to the
vitality of contemporary artists who were representing themselves as members of
groups they identified strongly with. She stated that identity is relational and defined
by our similarities and differences with others. She advocated a collective self.
- Lippard championed artists that came of age during the feminist and civil rights
movements of the 1960s and 70s. They named themselves members of identity-
based groups.
- A singular focus on one group identity led to real social and political gains and
provided a genuine emotional connection and sense of solidarity among a group of
people.
- Identity politics: a term used to refer to the beliefs and activities of those who target
racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of prejudice and work for social rights
and economic parity. Discrimination is also a debate in the art world. Feminists
mainly, got angry and questioned the “white male patriarchy”.
- Artists responded to this, some also made politically charged art; also called activist
art. The Guerilla Girls are an example of that: a feminist group that battles the
patriarchal power structure of the art world on behalf of women and other
underrepresented artists. They use advertising forms to communicate visual
messages.
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