The Death of Gaud: Ornamentation after Postmodernism
(it is but a mere coincidence that this post is coming after labor day weekend in new orleans - nolians I'm sure you know what I mean - long live southern decadence...)
The concept of decadence -waste, decay, elimination need not be condemned: they are necessary consequences of life, of the growth of life. The phenomenon of decadence is as necessary as any increase and advance of life... A society is not free to remain young. .... The more energetically and boldly it advances, the richer it will be in failures and deformities, the closer to decline.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
As the issue of decadence in contemporary art gains increasing popularity, I find myself particularly drawn to these manifestations of ornamentation through such themes as sex, death, and food in the postmodern context. Considering the increasingly global or, to borrow from Bourriaud, Altermodern framework that contemporary art situates itself within, both eastern and western contemporary artists employ such over-indulgent and draconian decorative properties. From the Luo Brothers and the Chinese concept of yansu to Pierre et Gilles who exhibit an intensely ornate aesthetic. A pre-occupation with style reminiscent both of the genesis of mannerism and the fin de siècle aesthetic is ushering in, I would contend, the closing of a chapter. Like the sludge at the bottom of a painter’s turpentine, postmodernism’s accrual of deconstructed leftovers from the height of an aesthetic formality appears to be on the brink of implosion. In extreme cases, both erotic and abject affection in contemporary art has been rendered moot because of an extended period of overstimulation. I'd like to think that such jadedness only leaves one option as its epilogue, which is a return to aesthetic sincerity. Given the current economic framework, material excess and unbridled consumerism seem to be well on their way out. This fetishized meticulousness expresses a hunger never satisfied, a desire never titillated, a climax never reached. Mortality, and the simple narrative of life then death. From resistance and response to.......renewal, rebirth, and regeneration.
Although I'm boxing these concepts in a specific aesthetic, there is still much to be addressed outside of such confines. So I'll start with these guys.....
Bernheimer, Charles, T. Jefferson Kline, and Naomi Schor. Decadent Subjects: The Idea of Decadence in Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Culture of the Fin De Siècle in Europe. Baltimore, Md.; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Brown, Curtis F. Star-spangled kitsch: an astounding and tastelessly illustrated exploration of the bawdy, gaudy, shoddy mass-art culture in this grand land of ours. New York: Universe Books, 1975.
Brusseau, James. Decadence of the French Nietzsche. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2005.
Davis, Whitney. "Decadence and the Organic Metaphor." Representations.89 (2005): 131-49.
Duran, Jane. "On Decadence." Philosophy 65.254 (1990): 455-64.
Ferguson, Christine. "Decadence as Scientific Fulfillment." PMLA 117.3 (2002): 465-78.
Freeman, Timothy J. Written and Painted Thoughts: Nietzsche's Aesthetic Turn (Attempts and Tempations to Postmodern Thought), 1995.
Hustvedt, Asti. The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy, and Perversion from Fin-De-Siècle France. New York: Zone Books, 1998.
Huysmans, J. -K, and Brendan King. Against Nature (â Rebours). Sawtry England; Gardena, Calif.: Dedalus; Distributed in the USA by SCB, 2008.
Loos, Adolf, and Adolf Opel. Ornament and Crime : Selected Essays. Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press, 1998.
Morley, Neville. "Decadence as a Theory of History." New Literary History 35.4, Forms and/of Decadence (2004).
Riegl, Alois, and David Castriota. Problems of Style : Foundations for a History of Ornament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Ruprecht, Louis A. Afterwords : Hellenism, Modernism, and the Myth of Decadence. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
Simons, Sarah E. "Social Decadence." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 18 (1901): 63-86.
The concept of decadence -waste, decay, elimination need not be condemned: they are necessary consequences of life, of the growth of life. The phenomenon of decadence is as necessary as any increase and advance of life... A society is not free to remain young. .... The more energetically and boldly it advances, the richer it will be in failures and deformities, the closer to decline.-Friedrich Nietzsche
As the issue of decadence in contemporary art gains increasing popularity, I find myself particularly drawn to these manifestations of ornamentation through such themes as sex, death, and food in the postmodern context. Considering the increasingly global or, to borrow from Bourriaud, Altermodern framework that contemporary art situates itself within, both eastern and western contemporary artists employ such over-indulgent and draconian decorative properties. From the Luo Brothers and the Chinese concept of yansu to Pierre et Gilles who exhibit an intensely ornate aesthetic. A pre-occupation with style reminiscent both of the genesis of mannerism and the fin de siècle aesthetic is ushering in, I would contend, the closing of a chapter. Like the sludge at the bottom of a painter’s turpentine, postmodernism’s accrual of deconstructed leftovers from the height of an aesthetic formality appears to be on the brink of implosion. In extreme cases, both erotic and abject affection in contemporary art has been rendered moot because of an extended period of overstimulation. I'd like to think that such jadedness only leaves one option as its epilogue, which is a return to aesthetic sincerity. Given the current economic framework, material excess and unbridled consumerism seem to be well on their way out. This fetishized meticulousness expresses a hunger never satisfied, a desire never titillated, a climax never reached. Mortality, and the simple narrative of life then death. From resistance and response to.......renewal, rebirth, and regeneration.
Although I'm boxing these concepts in a specific aesthetic, there is still much to be addressed outside of such confines. So I'll start with these guys.....
Bernheimer, Charles, T. Jefferson Kline, and Naomi Schor. Decadent Subjects: The Idea of Decadence in Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Culture of the Fin De Siècle in Europe. Baltimore, Md.; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Brown, Curtis F. Star-spangled kitsch: an astounding and tastelessly illustrated exploration of the bawdy, gaudy, shoddy mass-art culture in this grand land of ours. New York: Universe Books, 1975.
Brusseau, James. Decadence of the French Nietzsche. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2005.
Davis, Whitney. "Decadence and the Organic Metaphor." Representations.89 (2005): 131-49.
Duran, Jane. "On Decadence." Philosophy 65.254 (1990): 455-64.
Ferguson, Christine. "Decadence as Scientific Fulfillment." PMLA 117.3 (2002): 465-78.
Freeman, Timothy J. Written and Painted Thoughts: Nietzsche's Aesthetic Turn (Attempts and Tempations to Postmodern Thought), 1995.
Hustvedt, Asti. The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy, and Perversion from Fin-De-Siècle France. New York: Zone Books, 1998.
Huysmans, J. -K, and Brendan King. Against Nature (â Rebours). Sawtry England; Gardena, Calif.: Dedalus; Distributed in the USA by SCB, 2008.
Loos, Adolf, and Adolf Opel. Ornament and Crime : Selected Essays. Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press, 1998.
Morley, Neville. "Decadence as a Theory of History." New Literary History 35.4, Forms and/of Decadence (2004).
Riegl, Alois, and David Castriota. Problems of Style : Foundations for a History of Ornament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Ruprecht, Louis A. Afterwords : Hellenism, Modernism, and the Myth of Decadence. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
Simons, Sarah E. "Social Decadence." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 18 (1901): 63-86.
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