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Art in the Age of Mass Media, 3rd Edition
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Product Description
Can fine art survive in an age of mass media? If so, in what forms and to what purpose? These are the challenging questions addressed in this thoroughly revised, updated and expanded edition of "Art in the Age of Mass Media", as John Walker examines the fascinating relationship between art and mass media, and the myriad interactions between high and low culture in a postmodern, culturally pluralistic world.
Using a range of historic and contemporary works of art to illustrate theoretical points, Walker explores the variety of ways in which modern artists have responded to the arrival of new, mass media. He ranges from the socialist paintings of Courbet to the anti-Nazi photomontages of Heartfield, from community murals and Keith Haring's use of graffiti to the kitsch self-promotion associated with Jeff Koons. The new edition describes what happened during the 1990s, including Toscani's adverts for Benetton, the simulations of Leeds 13, art and cinema, Damien Hirst, and the cyberart currently being produced for the internet. "Art in the Age of Mass Media" is an invaluable introduction to the continuing debates between high art and low culture for students of media and cultural studies and art history.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2883880 in Books
- Published on: 2001-10-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 224 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A vastly entertaining read...undoubtedly one of the best entrées to this area." -- The Modern Review
"Lucid, well documented and argumentative. -- Times Literary Supplement
Review
About the Author
John A. Walker has writen several other books for Pluto Press.
Customer Reviews
Art in Society
Art is a social institution. So it can't be insulated from social influences. Artists are sellers in market. They earn their bread by selling their products, artworks.
Art is a language shared by social actors. Artworks can't be read without shared code to interpret the meaning of the text. They call it as convention. Convention is established through the power relationship in the market among producer (artists), intermediary (critics) and consumer (audience).
In this regard, art is just another medium like mass media. The author questions when the mass media dominates the culture, what is the status of pure art? In this vein, following questions, which have haunted the field of artistic production since the 19th century, gains renewed significance. Could art secure its autonomy as modernists dreamt of? What is the social role of art?
To answer those questions, the author probes into the language and market of visual art from pop art to postmodernism. Various avant-garde movements since pop art has borrowed and exploited material, subject and strategy of mass media. In turn, mass culture has utilized the art as high culture. But the position of pure art is still restricted to institutionalized sanctuary like museum, university. It's no more than high culture protected from below. It's utilized to distinguish from others by high society. It's not clear whether artwork is different from luxury goods in its utility. Adorno's word still reverberates in the circle of artists: "Today, it goes without saying that nothing concerning art goes without saying, not much without thinking. Everything about art has become problematic: its inner life, its relation to society, even its right to exist".
