MODERNISM A CULTURAL REVOLUTION

“Change is inevitable, and disruption it causes often bring both inconvenience and opportunity”- Robert Scoble .

Imagine Rembrandt, the master of light and shadow, flattening form like a primitive cave drawing, abstracting part of a figure resembling a piston, or emoting fiery skies in scarlet and palm trees in cerulean. Such was the “cultural shock” manifested by modernism in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century. The role of art modified, challenging old traditions and paving ways to new stylistic currents. Artists moved from salons to cenacles and took a bohemian turn baffling the vision of reality in the ‘Le Monde.’ Avant-Garde broke barriers of replicating nature and religious narratives into an extravaganza of searching for new meanings and directions. An anti-historical approach marked the beginning of three major stylistic currents identifying modernism as a cultural revolution - ‘Art and Style’, ‘Art and Mind’, and ‘Art for people’

Manet's controversial Olympia 1865 when compared to Titian’s Venus of Urbino 1538 is a rough, flat, unfinished stylization of the subject challenging the smooth finish and traditional chiaroscuro of the old masters. The feminine in Manet’s work was considered ‘naked’ and called “a female Gorilla” by a critique, was a paradoxical translation of Titian’s goddess of beauty, love, and fertility. The parodying of the past was a prominent characteristic of most modernists. It’s a trait which influences even the most contemporary artists in selection of their style, subject and technique.

Whistler’s ‘Nocturne in Black and Gold-The Falling Rocket, 1872-77’ depicted the artist's unforgettable experience at Cremorne, and laid the foundation of abstraction in modern art. Often nostalgia and childhood memories mark the beginning of modern art. The Cat’s Cradle 2022 is one such attempt to relive the pleasures of childhood carefree and spirited.

Like any other revolution in history, modernism was also received with an unwelcoming resistance. Critic John Ruskin called Whistler’s work “a pot of paint in the publics’ face” because of its loose mark making and unrecognizable forms. The harsh criticism further instigated the rebellious avant-garde who rejected realism, and the traditional hierarchy of subjects. Formalism, an underlying principle of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy became an edifice of modernism where pure beauty existed in its absolute form regardless of its empirical experiences. The 20th century saw the wild and vigorous brushwork, expressive use of non-natural colors and the simplification of form by French expressionists. Earning the title of fauves, they expressed the world in an innovative way. ‘La Conversation’1909-1912 is one such emotive work by Henri Matisse where he uses flat expanse of colors, simplifies objects, and declines the rules of perspective. The joyfulness of Matisse redefined the purpose of art as a medium to comfort the mind and soul, where emotions overpowered mere replication of nature. Ultramarine 2022 the portraits in blue are my tribute to this unconventionality and bold mark making.

As per Canter modernism’s openness to pluralism was an invitation to multi-cultural impulses. Artists drew influences from cultures outside Europe. Flat ornamental quality of Matisse was inspired from Japanese prints while Nolde’s grotesque green faces by African masks. On similar grounds Rendezvous #2 2019 merges tribal Indian Art form called ‘Gond Art’ into a Contemporary environment.

One can agree to the fact that modernism with its open mindedness hinted at a sign of cultural decay where Nietzsche’s Dionysian attitude destroyed the apollonian veil resulting in nihilism. Pain and agony of war corrupted the world with materialism and marked the downfall of morality and hope. The pointy hard-edged figures in ‘Street Berlin’ 1913 by Kirchner depict modernism’s pessimistic vitality and exploration of the non-ideal portraying an indifferent attitude of the aristocrats when the German metropolis was approaching war . Distorted realism in Otto Dix’s ‘Trench Warfare’ was a barbarous representation of post war repercussions and a savage satire on the moral and spiritual decay. On similar grounds, Picasso’s Guernica 1937 depicted a tragic historical bombing of a civilian town Guernica, which became a universal anti -war symbol and statement opposing violence and inhumanity. However amidst all unrest, Mondrian’s power of lines and Kandinsky’s synonymy to music redirected modernism toward a mystical journey of spiritual therapy acting as a soothing balm on the victimized. So in my opinion modernism creates a balance between chaos and order. My abstract pieces aim to narrate a story of this balance.

Sigmund Freud’s psycho analysis of neurosis was rooted in a process of dream analysis, which explored the irrational unconscious mind to uncover the hidden truths and fears that played a significant role in controlling our rational conscious and preconscious mind. This idea gave birth to the ‘Art of mind’ knitting Freud to dream like images of surrealism. Alice in Renaissance 2021 is one such surreal attempt deep-rooted in my childhood fantasies of Alice and her mysterious life of adventures.

Freud’s philosophy of free associations gave a chance to randomness in art. The sexual innuendo presented in Meret Oppenheim’s ‘My Nurse’ 1936 depicts a randomly found pair of high heeled shoes served on a silver platter as if lamb chops, projected woman as an object of desire, symbolizing female fetishism. Such randomness is portrayed in Plethora #1 2021 which is an amalgamation of various artistic elements of my artistic journey.

Dada artist Marcel Duchamp introduced the concept of readymade or art of found objects. He presented randomly found objects as pieces of art sometimes in their original state and sometimes considering a new meaning or no relation at all. His famous readymade ‘Advance of a Broken Arm 1916’ depicts a shovel in the form of a human hand. Thinking out of the box is a gift of modernism and an essential tool of contemporary artists.

Modernism, a saga of ‘what’s going on?’ is not one style or movement but a chronicle of interrelated chapters oscillating between abstraction and realism narrating a revolution of political, social, economic, and cultural changes around the 20th century. From a dramatic violation of academic rules into a deep dive of machine culture, most modernists reflected a neoclassical pastiche. The swollen bodies of Leger’s ‘Le Grand Dejeuner’ recall the classical style of Nicolas Poussin with a modernistic overlay of machine aesthetics. This is where the cultural revolution called modernism began, breaking the rules of the past, living in the present, and looking forward to a better future. This sets a question unanswered: Why is it important to pursue just one style or adhere to a single language, why to limit one's ability and thoughts to create art when determination and experimentation is all what it takes to think out of the box?