Postmodernism

I'm not entirely sure if I understand this, but I'll give it a go.

The assignment is to select a work of art and write at least one paragraph about it from a postmodern standpoint using ideas from chapter 2 in Terry Barrett's Criticizing Art.

Alright.

So the work I have chosen is this: Werewolf Nesting Dolls

This is a set of nesting dolls created by missmonster on deviantART. I would say that these art definitely postmodern. missmonster took something that can be seen in many different cultures (Russian and Egyptian) and applied it in a new context. This is something that postmodernists are known for doing. The nesting dolls were not made based on their utility, but rather reflect the artist's interests and thoughts. The werewolf nesting dolls allude the the form of the Russian nesting dolls, however, much unlike them, they do not emphasize the formality that they had. Postmodernists strive to work away from the formal elements that modernists valued so highly in their work.

The definition of postmodernism from dictionary.com is 'any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism, esp. a movement in architecture and the decorative arts running counter to the practice and influence of the International Style and encouraging the use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity.' I believe that missmonster definitely accomplished the latter of the two definitions in her piece. The Werewolf Nesting Dolls refer to the nesting dolls of Russia, and are playful and decorative in subject matter.