How to Paint in the Postmodernism Style

Postmodernism is not so much a style as an umbrella term for artistic reactions to modernity. Usually, that means that the artwork is sentient. Art that is considered postmodern is aware of its own genre and addresses itself.

Things You'll Need

• Paint brushes
• Easel
• Paint
• Canvas

Instructions

Approach Art With a Postmodernist Outlook

1. Accept that there is no more use in trying to be original. Modernist art exhausted the possibilities for new ideas and postmodernism is the aftermath.

2. Consider that art is over-saturated with artists, artworks and styles. Postmodernists believe that there is no need for a new movement in art and therefore rarely look forward.

3. Categorize the different kinds of painting into arch-types. Cheapen the different painting styles by not distinguishing between amateurs and masters within each art movement. Use clichés to sum up philosophies.

4. Do not take art seriously. Approach painting in a joking manner. Try different painting genres while exercising their philosophies without sincerity.

Paint in the Postmodernism Style

1. Mimic an artistic style, but do it in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Do not openly satire the style, but take the principles so lightly that the finished result can come off as satire or parody.

2. Have your painting be aware of itself. Paint objects like paintbrushes and easels into the picture. Paint a hand painting. Stick a paintbrush physically on to the canvas. Leave the painting unfinished. There are many ways to indicate the painting as a process.

3. Have the subject in the painting be aware that it is in a painting. Paint the figures looking out toward the viewer, paint them feeling trapped in by the edges of the canvas or paint them distinctly aware of a painter.

4. Paint in the style of other late-modern movements. Minimalism is often considered a postmodernist style. A lot of abstract art qualifies as postmodernist. Most attempts at modernism these days are considered postmodernist instead.

Tips & Warnings

• There is no one postmodernism style of painting. Postmodernism is a jaded outlook on life. When artists bring that philosophy to painting, no matter what the painting looks like or is about, there is an insincerity and tongue-in-cheek quality to it. That is what a postmodernist painting is.

• A lot of postmodernists are not aware that they are postmodernists. Most postmodernists do not know what their own philosophies are. You cannot become a postmodernist because you want to. You either are one or you are not.