The Literary Theory: Postmodern, Psyche and Art: An Exploration
By Jonathan K. Varghese
On October 2nd, Jonathan K. Varghese gave a lecture on Postmodern, Psyche and Art: An Exploration as part of The Literary Series hosted by Jabberwock. Varghese conducted the lecture by helping the students understand postmodernism through art and frameworks. He spoke about skepticism, individualism and relativism and how it came to define postmodernism.
He began by showing the students a painting drawn by Diego Velázquez, known as Portrait of Innocent X, depicting the pope, who was the most powerful entity in the western Catholic world. He follows it up with Francis Bacon’s Study for Portrait of Innocent X, where instead of sporting the stern expression in Velázquez’s version, his face is disfigured. This artistic interpretation of the pope is a reflection of Bacon’s psyche, and his deliberate distortion signifies control and charge. Varghese explains that the different interpretations of the same subject by different artists, makes the artist more important than the subject. This is because the pope is just a subject of composition on a two dimensional surface. Every piece of art is a version of the subject by the artist.
Picasso’s cubism and Van Gogh’s usage of colours in his art depicts their psychological state of mind, and human form is treated as an excuse to engage with the said psychological state. Jackson Pollock’s Convergence, Clyfford Still’s PH-129 and Mark Rothko’s White Center gave rise to abstract expressionism. But these artists are treated as a commodity by America; they are celebrated to advertise the United States of America’s tolerance and democratic ideals. Andy Warhol mocks this development of art in America through his own paintings, which popularly came to be known as pop art. His art was ironic in nature, thus making it hard to differentiate between high art and low art. His paintings of Mao Tse Tung communicated his belief in individualism, because Mao in his painting is just Warhol’s perception of him. Warhol commented that nothing was sacrosanct, and everything is a commodity, which was the culmination of skepticism as a concept. Following this, Varghese ended his lecture and the session came to a close after the questionnaire period.
He began by showing the students a painting drawn by Diego Velázquez, known as Portrait of Innocent X, depicting the pope, who was the most powerful entity in the western Catholic world. He follows it up with Francis Bacon’s Study for Portrait of Innocent X, where instead of sporting the stern expression in Velázquez’s version, his face is disfigured. This artistic interpretation of the pope is a reflection of Bacon’s psyche, and his deliberate distortion signifies control and charge. Varghese explains that the different interpretations of the same subject by different artists, makes the artist more important than the subject. This is because the pope is just a subject of composition on a two dimensional surface. Every piece of art is a version of the subject by the artist.
Picasso’s cubism and Van Gogh’s usage of colours in his art depicts their psychological state of mind, and human form is treated as an excuse to engage with the said psychological state. Jackson Pollock’s Convergence, Clyfford Still’s PH-129 and Mark Rothko’s White Center gave rise to abstract expressionism. But these artists are treated as a commodity by America; they are celebrated to advertise the United States of America’s tolerance and democratic ideals. Andy Warhol mocks this development of art in America through his own paintings, which popularly came to be known as pop art. His art was ironic in nature, thus making it hard to differentiate between high art and low art. His paintings of Mao Tse Tung communicated his belief in individualism, because Mao in his painting is just Warhol’s perception of him. Warhol commented that nothing was sacrosanct, and everything is a commodity, which was the culmination of skepticism as a concept. Following this, Varghese ended his lecture and the session came to a close after the questionnaire period.
Written by Shreya Das