Rethinking the Avant-Garde

To continue to engage with the question ‘is the notion of the Avant-Garde as pertinent today as it was in the beginning of the twentieth-century’, we must engage with the etymological use of the word (avant-garde). The term, originally used in military practice to describe the foremost part of an advancing army, took on a whole new meaning when applied to innovative art in the latter part of the nineteenth century (Bishop). Furthermore, its initial application to these artists and writers denotes more to their eccentricity than to any inherently creative qualities in their work. This presents an ambiguous challenge for readers of the avant-garde today. In order for us to understand whether the avant-garde continues to subsist, an understanding of its present meaning is vital.

Historically, avant-gardism consists of ‘original’ or ‘authentic’ works created in direct opposition to the traditional or institutional assessment of art. This is paradoxical in its entirety. Historical or past avant-gardist art, although momentarily revolutionary, ultimately fails in its revolutionary usefulness as the art becomes outmoded. The ‘new’ and ‘original’ art matures into decadence, through no fault of its own and remains ‘original’ merely in historical terms. The works of Joyce, Beckett, Woolf, Picasso, Matisse and more recently Warhol prepared the way for future artists to continue with the process of experimentation and innovation. Therefore, when avant-garde art becomes fashionable- as say, collage in visual art and associational syntax in poetry already have, then they appear decadent, and contemporary artists feel aspired to try and transcend the old so as to make it new (Kostelanetz, Avant-Garde).Conventionally, avant-garde art endeavours to contest the traditional and philosophical notions of art, but today, all anti-traditional art is widely accepted both individually and institutionally. So how exactly does an artist create avant-gardist art today? The answer to this seemingly insoluble question is twofold. Firstly, an artist who attempts to be original with reference to content, might, succeed in creating a ‘shock value’ in their art, however, this art should not be considered avant-gardist art. The reason is, as already mentioned, the ‘shock value’ continually fluctuates. A painting depicting the beheading of an American journalist, by a member of the Islamic State, with the LGB flag as its backdrop, could be seen as having a ‘shock value’. This painting, unquestionably, would not be referred to as avant-gardist, since decadence alone is not enough to give a work such praiseworthy reference. With this mindless example, one realises, that it’s not a works content that truly matters but the method or media in which it is created. Therefore, a writer or artist must invent a new system of painting, or writing, to truly encapsulate the avant-garde, in all its generalities. Marcel Duchamp’s craftsmanship plays poorly in contrasts to his inventiveness when analysing his most eminent work. Duchamp invented a new method of artistic creation, a style he refers to as ‘ready-made’ art, in which the subject bared little importance to the meaning of the artwork.

Therefore, the definition of the avant-garde is as capricious as the concept of its meaning and will undoubtedly continue to change. In the following paragraph, I intend on using its more general meaning, that of the experimental and innovative delineation. Let us now look at some contemporary artists who are pushing today into tomorrow. Eva and Franco Mattes. Two artists from Italy who use new technologies to create original art. Internet art originated in the middle of the 1990s. Eva and Franco, are considered to be part of the second wave of this relatively new sensation. Similar to Duchamp, the pair enjoy engaging with the art world, in a disparaging and caustic manner. In one of their more famous works, “No Fun”, they choose a website where users surf webcam feeds, called Chatroulette (Burnett). In the room of their webcam, Franco pretends to hang himself and records the actions of strangers. This piece of performance art arouses diverse reactions from the viewers, ranging from complete horror to insensitive laughter. Eva and Franco understand that perception is our key to reality, and unlike artists before them, relay to the world this understanding in a new and experimental fashion. Academic artists might have a problem crediting their ‘performance’ as art, and for this reason I believe ‘No Fun’ to be of an avant-garde standard. Thus, artists must not reinvent imagery but instead reinvent the method used in which to display imagery.

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                                                                                                           Works Cited

Bishop, Thomas. “Changing Concepts of Avant-Garde in XXth Century Literature.” The French Review (1964): 34-41. Jstor.

Burnett, Zaron. “Notes from the Avant-Garde: 5 artisit pushing today into tomorrow.” 17 April 2013. thoughtcatalogue.com. Website/Blog. 20 10 2014.

Kostelanetz, Richard. “Avant-Garde.” Hall, Donald. Claims for Poetry. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1982. 238-245. Print.

—. “Avant-Garde (1984).” New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly (1984): 24-40. Jstor.

Long Live The Avant-Garde

Is the notion of the avant-garde as pertinent today as it was in the beginning of the early-twentieth century? A multifaceted question in which I intend not to answer but to engage with. Theorists and literary critics alike (too many to mention) will argue that the avant-garde faded out or to a lesser extent perished. If so, when, where, how and why?

Avant-gardism originated in opposition to traditional expectations of what constitutes as art, whether institutionally or outside. Without being too exact one could argue that Paris was the nucleus of this innovative movement, particularly in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. Woody Allan’s Midnight in Paris depicts, rather accurately, (in my opinion) the ‘aesthetic longing’ artists and writers today wish to discover. Here Cubism, Dadaism, Impressionism, Realism, Symbolism, Primitivism, and many more, took centre stage, and with such gusto as the world had not experienced before. F.S Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Gertrude Stein, and Picasso all frequented the same cafés and bars, where original ideas were shaped and moulded into the artworks that inhabit our libraries and museums today. Nelly Furtado’s crooning of the words, “why do all good things come to an end”, seem appropriate when writing about the Parisian artists of the early twentieth century.

The reason all good things come to an end is because the good becomes old and the old is never new. Art and literature strive on originality, a concept and term filled with the paradoxical elements which hold it together. Walter Benjamin attributes this loss of originality or aura to the mechanization of the work of art. This assumption is true to a degree but surely in a teleological or existentialist world progression is inevitable. Were artists supposed to boycott the new mode of production and continue the Dadaist tradition of useless art, surely not? Furthermore, one could argue that the original does not exist, for the ideas of writers and artists alike are perceived, then interpreted and finally put onto a canvas or blank page. Excellence and originality invariably alter for the reason that standards can and do change. What may be deemed original might also be considered a copy or a reinvention of a type of originality. Theoretically the avant-garde cannot exist without “tradition” and it is widely accepted in philosophical and historical circles that the discourse of tradition changes with the coming of each epoch, thus the avant-garde in keeping up with tradition evolves as opposed to regresses. This is only a thought, and is widely disputed among literary theorists.

An example of neo avant-gardism is Andy Warhol’s Oxidation Paintings. Before the exhibition of the painting, Warhol or an assistant, allegedly urinated onto canvases prepared with a copper emulsion, causing highly gestural green gas splotches of oxidation to form on the reddish ground. Due to his already preeminent status as an artist, this crude act becomes of instantaneous aesthetic value. My point in telling this story is that it replicates Marcel Duchamp’s urinal art. Both are accepted as art, the former immediately, and the latter after some time. Indisputably, urinating in an art gallery is as shocking as placing a urinal in a museum if positioned traditionally on a historical diagram. What is shocking now is unthinkable a hundred years ago and what is shocking then is deemed cultivated now. My point is, there are many factors which contribute to a so called “shock value”, including political and social ideologies. These factors are transferable to the degree of changeability, therefore, the avant-garde has no choice but to keep in line with its external and internal surroundings.

The tip of the iceberg remains untouched. Alas, time is too close to midnight to allow my cognitive thought to refrain from wandering, therefore, I will continue with this complex topic in the following days. Remember to comment like or share the above, if not for its usefulness, then at least to motivate me to continue to write on this subject.