At present, post-modernism is discussed at home and abroad, mostly from the perspective of sociology and culturology, some from the post-industrial era after World War II, and some from the information age in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, the more we talked, the less clear we became. As Hans Bertens of the Netherlands said: "The term postmodernism gradually entered the maze of terms during the whole discussion." (1) ge also cut in from the perspective of sociology and culturology. He defined postmodernism after 1970s, so that pop art, which was regarded as one of the prominent phenomena of postmodernism by many theorists, was attributed to modernism. After reading his argument, I still don't know what postmodernism is.

The classification concepts in art are mostly poor, such as the classification of "freehand brushwork" and "meticulous brushwork". Wan said: "China painting tradition, including meticulous painting, is essentially freehand brushwork" (2). But people still want to use it because it is easy to use as a tool. "Postmodernism" is the most lame concept, and it is too much to call the artistic phenomenon that obviously happened before the present as postmodernism.

The only reason why this concept is so attractive is that more and more cultural phenomena against modernism need theoretical explanation and description. Whether the word "postmodern" can become a useful tool depends on whether it can be defined more clearly.

The word "postmodernism" was first used in the field of architecture. Today, I think the concept is most clearly explained in the field of architecture, because the field of architecture is cut in from morphology.

Morphology is not taxonomy, so-called cutting into people from morphology is cutting into thoughts. Different ideas about "what is art" make art manifest in different forms. Morphological differences reflect conceptual differences.

The concept of "postmodernism" in architecture is aimed at the morphological core (conceptual core) of modernism. In the process of pursuing the essence and purity of architecture, modernist architecture gradually introduces more and more extreme functional supremacy into architecture, and in the process of emphasizing the aesthetic significance of mechanization and industrial mass production, it gradually leads architecture to boring, boring, bare and uniform glass skyscrapers and large and small square boxes. Wolff, an American architectural critic, is extremely dissatisfied with the phenomenon that "Germany puts half of the United States in a square box", which is called "colonial syndrome". r？ Venturi believes that modernism "tries to break the tradition and start from scratch", and it "idealizes the primitive, simple and basic elements at the expense of diversity, profundity and complexity".

Of course, this statement does not advocate returning to pre-modernism (like many so-called post-modern buildings in China), but advocates finding a new direction on the basis of modernism. Where are you going? His proposition is simple and clear: "I like the' mixed' architecture, not the' pure' architecture; I want to compromise, not clean and simple; I prefer twists and turns to all the way; I prefer vague to clear connections "; "I like to take care of both; I don't like' either/or',' black or white', black or white, or gray. " ③

With this clear definition, when Jencks called the bombing of Kuyt Igor Building in St. Louis, USA "the death of modernism", the architectural community generally knew what he was talking about.

Of course, how to define "postmodernism" in the field of free art cannot be copied from the field of architecture, but there are two points for reference: 1 Convinced that the best explanation of "postmodernism" is different in different fields, we should start from within this field. 2. From a morphological point of view.

For free art, modernism can be summarized as three points: 1. Independence-Good art has gradually broken away from the decorative status or vassal status of buildings, utensils, clothes, books and other practical items, and become an independent and freely movable easel art; 2? Autonomy-art gradually liberated from the graphic position of religion, politics, history, social events, philosophy and literature, and became the art itself independent of other texts; 3? Purity-art gradually got rid of the imitation position of "the shadow of reality" and became a creation of pure modeling and free expression of the spiritual world.

In other words, modern art has two conceptual support points, one is essence and the other is purity. Purity is close to the essence of art, and essence appears in purity. On these two points, the conceptual core (morphological core) of modernism in free art and architectural art is the same.

Since romanticism, people have been looking for the essence of art under the banner of "non-narrative", "non-imitation" and "autonomy", just like peeling onions layer by layer, thinking that the outer layer is the surface and the inner layer is the essence. Post-impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, animalism, expressionism, abstraction ... The local elements of art are ontological step by step until there are points, lines and surfaces left.

Peel the onion skin to the end, and perhaps peel another layer to find the true meaning of art.

If history follows mondriaan's cold abstraction to small art, and then reverts to blank cloth like Larry Bell and Agnes Martin, it leads to the view that pure canvas is a ready-made commodity, and ready-made goods and works of art cannot be distinguished. ...

If history follows Germany. Willem de kooning's thermal abstraction constantly draws lessons from others, and then, like the French artist Eug6ne Leroy, he enlarges the collision between brush strokes and oil painting pigments, piling them up thicker and thicker, resulting in the concept that pure pigments are ready-made products, ready-made products and works of art. ...

If history follows Braiteau giacometti's tendency to emphasize material language, it will develop to the works of German artist Ulrich Rtickriem close to stone, and then to the works of British artist Richard? Richard Long's original stone typesetting works led to the concept that raw materials are ready-made products, and there is no difference between ready-made products and works of art. ...

No matter which hypothesis comes true, the logical relationship between modernism and postmodernism will be much clearer and the history of art will be much more peaceful.

However, due to the emergence of marcel duchamp, history has become another way.

Perhaps the tendency of Pablo Picasso and others to embed newspapers, sticks, hemp ropes, iron sheets, laundry baskets and other ready-made items into paintings and sculptures stimulated Duchamp's whimsy, and he simplified the elements of such works. In 2003, the bicycle wheel installed on the wooden bench was taken as the work, and in 2008+09 1965543, the signed beer bottle rack was taken as the work, and the relationship between the finished product and the artwork was directly and boldly questioned until the most shocking, profane, gangster, successful and representative work "Spring" was created.

Duchamp's topic is to investigate the boundary between finished products and works of art, which has two directions: 1. The finished product is a work of art, as long as we treat it with artistic attitude. This is mainly reflected in 19 17' s work Spring (a toilet that changes direction). A work of art is a ready-made product, as long as we treat it with a ready-made attitude. This is mainly reflected in 19 19' s work L.H.O.o.Q (replica of Mona Lisa with beard).

Any ready-made product can be selected, and he prefers urinals; The Mona Lisa can be reworked any way, but he just added two beards to the girl. Perhaps, as the book says, he is notorious for this, but he raised a major historical question in an explosive way: there is nothing in the center of the onion, and the limit of purification is the death of art itself, the identity between art and non-art, and the difference between art and life. Duchamp denied the purification itself according to the process of artistic purification.

Duchamp's negative power to art is a great power to affirm art, which destroys art and opens a new door for art. It has triggered various creations such as devices, behaviors, bodies, poppers, the earth, bindings, events, accidents and concepts. In all kinds of creations, "misappropriation of ready-made products" is fermented everywhere like yeast.

These arts are the basic core of anti-essence, anti-purity and anti-modernism, so they are called post-modern arts. These arts are the reverse result of the positive logic of modernism, so they are called post-modern arts. Postmodernism is pursuing Duchamp.

Just like the axis of numbers, the process of essentialization and purification of modernism is like the process of shrinking positive values. Duchamp's Spring is in the position of "0", while postmodern art is a negative group with increasing absolute value. Purely speaking, it is not pure, and for the purpose of art, it is anti-art-the opposite of easel art and easel art.

It is not difficult to see the main differences between modern art and post-modern art from here:

For art-anti-art

Art on the shelf-non-art on the shelf

Pure Art —— A thorough query and deconstruction of pure art

Essential Art —— A thorough query and deconstruction of the essence of art

Searching for the basic elements of art and constructing the art of meta-discourse —— A thorough query and deconstruction of the basic elements of art and meta-discourse

Structuralism as the foundation of language philosophy —— Post-structuralism (deconstruction) as the foundation of language philosophy.

There is a popular saying that cannot be established. This view holds that modern art is formalistic art, while post-modern art focuses on society, life and nature, life and problems. Accordingly, it is considered that modern art is the art of linguistics and postmodern art is the art of pragmatics. Modern art focuses on art, while post-modern art focuses on meaning (content).

In fact, from being born for art to opposing art, modernism and postmodernism have the same questions about art itself, but the way modern art asks questions is: What is the essence of art? The post-modern art asks: Why can't art do this? But they all care about art itself. Paying attention to art itself is completely different from formalism, and paying attention to art itself is a matter of concept and form. With the continuous expansion of new art concepts, more and more new art forms have been led out.

In the process of concept development, many outstanding and representative modernist artists emerged. These artists are not indifferent to society and life, nor are they indifferent to meaning. On the contrary, they use their new art forms to express their meaning in new ways. Even mondriaan's geometric abstract works are the expression of his concepts of fusion and cosmic order. On the contrary, Spring and L. H.O.O.Q written by Duchamp, the father of post-modern art, have not expressed any social significance beyond the concept because they are in the "0" position from being an art to being an anti-art, which is called pure concept, not formalism.

With such a logical definition, it is easier to define the optimal time limit.

I agree that the sixties and seventies should be the time limit for entering the post-modern art stage. My reason is simple: 1. Duchamp detonated the concept of ready-made goods in the early 20th century, but modern art is still like the rising sun. Modern art was in an all-round development stage in the first half of the 20th century, occupying a mainstream position. 2. Rarely pop, gaudy and graffiti art is the extreme tendency to deconstruct architectural art from the inside, while art forms such as installation, behavior, performance, body and events are the architectural art from the outside. In 1960s and 1970s, the extreme tendency of a few arts to deconstruct architecture from the inside rose, which marked the downward trend of modern art. After 1970s, ready-made art gradually became the mainstream of European and American art circles, marking the upward trend of post-modern art. ..

Post-modern art appears in a fierce anti-art posture, but it has ushered in an unprecedented broad creative space, with free communication between classical and modern, shelf and non-shelf.