This essay concerns itself with the conceptual painting of New York artist Jonathan Lasker and establishes an understanding of his pictorial language as a postmodern position. The text examines the socio-political context underlying Modernism, and how that shaped its artistic values and ideals, in order to understand the problems and challenges facing the postmodern generation. Lasker’s painting, “Hidden Identity,” is looked at as an example in order to arrive at a precise and nuanced understanding of his artistic statement.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Concepts
Ideals and Charakteristics of Modernism
Challenges of Postmodernity
Jonathan Lasker: postmodern Conception
Summation
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This work examines how the visual language and working method of artist Jonathan Lasker reflect and critically engage with the legacy of Modern Abstraction, positioning his work within a postmodern discourse.
- The historical context and aesthetic values of Modernism.
- Theoretical perspectives on the transition from Modernism to Postmodernity.
- The configuration of Jonathan Lasker’s visual language through figure, ground, and drawing.
- The dialectical relationship between "marks" and "signs" in Lasker's compositions.
- An analysis of the painting "Hidden Identity" as a case study for postmodern subjecthood.
Excerpt from the Book
Jonathan Lasker: postmodern Conception
So how is Lasker’s visual language configured as a reaction to Modernism?
The most typical characteristic in Lasker’s paintings is constant: figure, ground, and drawing. These components are set in opposition to each other through dialectically staged heterogeneous textures, shapes, and methods of applying color. Within a single surface the viewer is being confronted with gridded formations standing next to tangled loops of infinite lines creating a clewlike and clustering impression, Geometric order meets organic chaos, control meets intuition, sensual color meet sober surfaces. Simultaneously, construction encounters deconstruction, creating a state of tension and suspense, similar to the effect of optical illusion. Lasker’s paintings prevent a uniform, habitual perception. Consciously using citations of Modernism that are recognizable yet preclusive of each other, he breaks into the conventions of collective memory, mischievously stimulating the viewer’s desire for interpretation.
That this should happen without any irony is hard to believe, given how he copies, with most scrupulous care, an intuitive scribbling study from his sketchbook to the canvas as a “studied pose of spontaneity”, that carries in its mental luggage both Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. “I really don’t wish my work to be perceived as a parody of spontaneity” Lasker emphasizes. A number of works from Pop-Art can be characterized as parody of the Action Painting of Pollock or de Kooning- Roy Lichtenstein’s “Yellow Brush Stroke # 1” to name one. Lasker’s interest lies, in fact, on a different level: he approaches the topic of the unconscious from Abstract Expressionism without portraying it as marketable or suitable for the masses.
Chapter Summaries
Introduction: Provides an initial impression of Jonathan Lasker’s paintings, noting their ambivalence and the systematic usage of modernist components to create a postmodern "dramatic comedy."
Concepts: Defines the fluid terms "Modern" and "Postmodern" and outlines the shift from Enlightenment-based rationalism to contemporary pluralistic discourse.
Ideals and Charakteristics of Modernism: Explores Clement Greenberg’s interpretation of Kantian self-critique, emphasizing how painting sought autonomy through surface and color.
Challenges of Postmodernity: Discusses the exhaustion of Enlightenment "great narratives" and the postmodern shift toward plurality, skepticism, and the commodification of knowledge.
Jonathan Lasker: postmodern Conception: Analyzes how Lasker uses "marks" and "signs" to balance intuition and control, specifically through an examination of the painting "Hidden Identity."
Summation: Concludes that Lasker does not attempt to reinvent painting, but rather continues modernity by rearranging and multiplying its existing languages.
Keywords
Jonathan Lasker, Postmodernism, Modernism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Hidden Identity, Visual Language, Enlightenment, Subjectivity, Figuration, Ambivalence, Autonomy, Deconstruction, Dialectics, Art Theory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this work?
The work explores the artistic practice of Jonathan Lasker as a reflection on the legacy of Modernist abstraction through a postmodern lens.
What are the primary themes discussed?
Key themes include the transition from Modernism to Postmodernity, the autonomy of painting, the critique of Enlightenment "great narratives," and the construction of identity in contemporary art.
What is the primary research question?
The study asks how Lasker’s specific visual language and compositional approach serve as a critical, postmodern reaction to the traditions of Modernism.
Which theoretical and scientific methods are employed?
The work utilizes art historical analysis, referencing key critics like Clement Greenberg and Jean-François Lyotard, alongside formal iconographic analysis of Lasker's paintings.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section moves from the definitions of Modernism and Postmodernity to a detailed visual and theoretical analysis of Lasker’s techniques, focusing on the interplay between figure, ground, and drawing.
Which keywords best characterize the research?
The research is characterized by terms such as postmodernism, abstraction, visual language, subject identity, and the reflexive nature of the painting process.
How does Lasker differentiate between "marks" and "signs"?
Lasker uses "signs" to refer to elements with commonly understood meanings, while "marks" remain free from specific denotation, creating an open-ended dialogue within his work.
What significance does the painting "Hidden Identity" hold in this study?
It serves as a primary case study to demonstrate how Lasker uses citations of Modernist masters to address the postmodern "identity of the subject" without providing fixed interpretations.
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- Agara Schymocha (Autor:in), Laura Bauerlein (Übersetzung), 2017, Postmodern Painting in the Mirror of Modernism. How Jonathan Lasker reflects the legacy of Modern Abstraction, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/372316
