Postmodernism Revealed

Michael Newberry responds:

If one understands the foundations of postmodern art to be destruction as means (painting and sculpture) and "shock" for ends then one can understand how 9/11 can be viewed as postmodern art. Prophetically, I saw the connection immediately after the event.

In December 200, issue #49, of the Free Radical, I state: " It is a sick irony of massive proportions that America, through its network of museums, dealers, intelligentsia, and funding, is the world's leading exponent of postmodern art...The symbol for this aspect of her culture and equally well for the terrorists is the bloody formless waste that was the World Trade Center and its people. A symbolic and literal marking of the decline of a civilization." Terrorism and Postmodern Art. In a follow up essay in June 2002, also in the Free Radical, I go on to state: "The destruction of the World Trade Center is the most brilliant example of the furthest reaches of what is possible to a postmodernist…Beyond obliteration the consequential absence of the Twin Towers is the crowning glory of postmodern art." Pandora's Box Part I

I am hoping that society and its cultural leaders can remove the veil that disguises the nature of postmodern art and that they will begin to see that postmodern art does not lead to a flourishing and vital culture.

Michael's crusade to establish representational art as an alternative to postmodernism is alive at The Foundation for the Advancement of Art and Romantic Realism.net.

Friday 20-Sep-02