The relationship of how modern culture affects the development of an artist work and craft.

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The Influence of Modern Culture on Art
The position of art in the society is one that has been established over time. Art plays various purposes in the society such as telling a story, documenting certain events, capturing the beauty, exhibiting creativity among many others. The type of art produced is also subject to a lot of other factors such as the culture of people, any significant ongoing events, the economic environment of a place, and the period the work of art and craft is being made. Modernism has played a vital role in influencing the works of art and craft to what they are at the moment. The era of modernity is said to have started in the onset of the 20th Century. However, there are diverse opinions about when the era ended where some scholars say it went beyond the 1960’s while others say it ended during the Second World War (MILDRED LANE KEMPERART MUSEUM, 1). Despite this, the influence of Modernity on the works of art and craft is beyond reproach. The paragraphs that follow will illustrate the impact of modernity on the works of art and craft produced during the era along with other key aspects of art.
Among the various artist of the modern era, John Stezaker stands out. John Stezaker was an artist whose work reflected the modern period when he lived. The earliest forms of art which may be dated back to the 15th and 16th centuries were mostly portraits painted by artists or sculptures. However, this forms of art were very expensive and were mostly made to capture the imperial rulers that lived during that period.

Looking back at this ancient period and also the period that Stezaker lived, one aspect stands out. In both periods the works of art and craft made reflect what was going on during the various periods and most importantly also, the level of technology that was existent during the different periods since it is what was used in the production of various forms of art. During Stezaker’s modern period, the photography, as well as the film industry, had already established their position in the society. Unlike the earlier artists who solely relied on brushes and paints to draw portraits as a form of art, in this modern error, photographs were taken and movies filmed could also serve as raw materials for making of art and craft.
To create his collages, Stezaker used pre-existing photos, images from books that had already been half-forgotten, film stills, postcards among others. These materials were then cut and combined differently to form various types of art (Caesar, 1). Some of the themes brought forward by his work are the re-imagination of a cinematic and image archives exploration. Stezaker’s art is classified into various categories namely; Marriage series, Mask series, and The 3rd Person Archive series. For The Marriage series, Stezaker matched two cut face images together, that of a man and a woman and called the union a marriage which symbolized the union of a male and female. Initially, each of the photographs used may have seemed idealized, posed, and Stereotypical. However, once a collage was made out of them, the resultant portrait became alive and more interesting. Such portraits commanded a particular emotion out of the viewers with their air of mystery. A good example of a marriage portrait that was done by Stezaker is the “Marriage (Film Portrait Collage) LXI 2010”. The collage which was made from two film stills inspires empathy for the person constructed from the portrait which seems distant and lost in his/her world. The portrait is also reflective of the time it was created when people could watch movies and relate to various celebrities in different films and also quickly take photographs since photography during the period was well developed and easily accessible. However, the difference between the viewer’s opinion about the initial material used and the final portrait made by the artist shows the talent and expertise of the artist in his craft.
Stezaker’s Mask series is also an interaction of different photographs and pictures. However, unlike the marriage series that combines the images of two people, the Mask series combines the photo of a person and an image of a natural scenario such as wildflowers, a beautiful landscape, a water body among many others. To create them, Stezaker used a picture of the scene to partially obscure the photograph a person. The resulting portrait clearly showed the contrast between the two photographs; the orderly environment vs. the chaos in nature, the civilized environment vs. the wild environment, and many other such-like themes (Mackey. et al., 4). Mask series portraits also had an aspect of mystery, especially at the point where the photograph was obscured by a different picture thus leaving the viewer to wonder what has been concealed and what it looked like. The Mask series Portraits were also reflective of the time they were made. The photographs used by Stezaker were those of actors usually headshots that were being produced during the 1970s. These photographs were intended for the fans of the various actors who were famous during the time. The pictures used to obscure the photographs of the actors that Stezaker used were postcards that were available during the time. The two raw materials used in the production of Mask series portraits show the influence of that modern era in the work of various artists or our case, in the works of Stezaker. A good example of a portrait in the Mask Series is the “John Stezaker, Mask X, 1982. Collage. 911/16×71/8. Ringier Collection, Switzerland” (Mackey. et al., 4). The portrait features a photograph of a lady whose face has been obscured by a postcard that has a picture of a river bridge that has two tunnels through which the water is passing through. The river is also very rocky, and under one tunnel a person can be seeing rowing in a small boat. The vegetation along the river bank is green, and the sky is blue. The contrast between the outdoor picture of the postcard and the indoor picture of the lady can clearly be seen. The two tunnels that are obstructing one from seeing the lady’s face seem like the doors to her soul thus despite not seeing her face, one can form the perception that the lady is friendly or welcoming.
Julie Cockburn is another artist that uses old photographs to create new portraits. Like John Stezaker, Cockburn also does not shoot any new pictures for her art but instead relies on old photos from auctions and garage sales. In her craft, she mostly uses photographs of people that she manipulates the face so as to keep the identity of the subject in the photo anonymous. Her manipulation of the old photograph then becomes her craft, and it is done in such a way that it gives the final portrait a personal touch that makes the viewer feel like she knows the subject in the photograph only that he/she cannot clearly remember them (Watkins, 1). This nostalgic feeling is despite the faces being masked entirely which separates them totally from the viewer. Cockburn in most instances uses photographs of female subjects in her craft, but there are cases where she has used male subjects, and a good example is her portrait “The Adulterer” that features a seated male subject. In the portrait, a man dressed in a formal suit and a tie is sitting down, and his face is entirely distorted to a point where one can not recognize what it looks like in the original photograph. Taking a closer look at the pattern used to change the face, it appears as if the face was cut into smaller triangular pieces, separated, and then brought together in a way that the various pieces do not fit in their original position.
Besides the different emotions communicated by Julie Cockburn’s art, her portrait also plays a key role in communicating to the viewer the period that they were crafted. Taking a closer look at Cockburn’s portrait, one can tell that they were created during the modern era. This is because of the raw material used, the process through which they are crafted, and the final product of the process are a clear evidence of the influence of modernity in her work. Taking a look at the portrait that has been discussed in the preceding paragraph, “The Adulterer,” one can see that it was made from a colored photograph as opposed to the earlier photographs that had only two colors, black and white (Watkins, 1). That shows that the photograph that is termed as old by Cockburn which she used as a raw material for her portrait was taken in the modern era. This is the case for many of her other portraits. Some of her other portraits that also show the influence of modernity are; the “Landscape with Mountain, 2013”, the “Daydreamer, 2011”, and “Lineage, 2013” which all show that they were made from photographs taken in the modern era when the technology in photography had been advanced. Also, the processes that Cockburn uses in the creation of her portraits are also reflective of the modernity. Her crafting process varies from cutting, sewing, drawing, painting, and Photoshop (Robertson, 1). Modern technology also plays a vital part in the whole process since in her craft she also uses devices such as scanners, computers, and design sketches. It is this integrated process that is responsible for breathing new life into her portraits thus making them tell a story about the history of art, modernity, nature, gender and history and also how some of these traits interrelate (Younger, 1).
The Dada movement is another good example of how art is subject to the time it was made. The movement that started during the period of the First World War saw a big variation in the type of art that was made as compared to any other previous years. This is because unlike previous works of art that were orderly and could fit the various categories that the society was expected, Dadaism art explored disorderliness, mockery of the existent society, along with other attributes that showed rebellion towards the society and art itself as it was known during the time (Tzara, 1). Even though Dadaism started as a means through which artists used to show their frustration to the society about the ongoing war and the materialistic values that the national government, the movement also led to the inceptions of other new perspectives of art that can be traced down even into the modern art. Taking a closer look into John Stezaker’s and Julie Cockburn’s work, aspects of Dadaism can still be seen in their art and craft. One of these aspects is the use of readymade materials in the creation of art as opposed to the creation of art from scratch (Shipe, 1). This element can be seen in both Cockburn’s and Stezaker’s work where they both start crafting their pieces of art from other pieces of art that were already in existent. Another element of Dadaism that can be seen in both of the artists that have been discussed in this essay is that of destroying or tampering with an existent commodity so as to create a new work of art. Just as Marcel Duchamp tampered with an existent urinal to make one of the most memorable works of art, Both Julie Cockburn, and John Stezaker started their craft with an existing product or work of art. After tempering with the various products in their unique way, they each came up with a distinct work of art that is appreciated by the society.
Dadaist artists used several methods to express their art such as photography, poetry, collages, and photomontage. However, towards the end of the movement, various Dadaist propagators and also artists ventured into film. However, there are three films of the Dadaist movement that stand out. These are; the “Ghosts Before Breakfast” by Hans Richter, “Le Retour A La Raison (The Return to Reason)” by Man Ray, and the “Anemic Cinema” by Marcel Duchamp (Jones, 1). Just like in other forms of art, the works of the Dadaist filmmakers stood out from the other films made during the period. While disrupting the Film Industry, the Dadaist films created an aesthetic language legacy in their films that was later further experimented on by the avant-garde artists that came in the later generations. The Dadaist films can be categorized along with other Dadaist works of art. This is because like all other Dadaist works of art they still adhere to the Dadaist Manifesto that was issued in the year 1918 by Tristan Tzara that expounded the idea of Dadaism. The film is also reflective of the period they were produced since like other Dadaist works; they were expressing their disapproval and rebellion of the value of the society during that period that Dadaist believed had resulted to World War I.
Analyzing the preceding paragraphs of this essay, one can realize that the community and works of art are interrelated and affect each other in various ways. The kind of society an artist lives in plays a vital role in the type of art or craft that the artist decides to engage in. On the other hand, the existing technology and culture in the particular environment that an artist lives in influences the methods and techniques that one uses in their craft. Also, the ongoing events in the community that an artist lives in may influence the subject and themes that the artist incorporates in the art created. These three outlined factors show how the society, the period and the ongoing events affect art. However, the relationship between the society and artwork goes both ways. This is because while art responds to what is going on in the society, the product of the creativity process of the artist may forever change how certain things are done in the society. This can be attributed to the fact a work of art can bring forward new perspectives on an individual subject that are adopted and accepted by the society and thus in the process change it. Therefore, this relationship dictates that critical information about a society and the time a work of art was made can be obtained from it while certain trends and changes in the society can be traced back to particular works of art.
Work cited
Caesar, G. John Stezaker-Too Much, Too Little. David Campany.com Website, 2016. http://davidcampany.com/john-stezaker-deutsche/
Jones, J. Three Essential Dadaist Films: Groundbreaking Works by Hans Richter, Man Ray & Marcel Duchamp. Open Culture.Com Website, 2015. http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/three-essential-dadaist-films-groundbreaking-works-by-hans-richter-man-ray-marcel-duchamp.html
MILDRED LANE KEMPERART MUSEUM. Educator’s Guide, John Stezaker. Washington University in St. Louis Website, 2012. http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/files/StezakerEducator’sGuide_0.pdf
Mackey, E. et al. WHAT MAKES MODERN ART MODERN? Los Angeles County Museum of Art Website, 2009. http://www.lacma.org/eduprograms/EvesforEds/ModernArtEssay.pdf
Robertson, R. THE PHOTOSHOP-LOVING ARTIST WHO EMBROIDERS VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS. Art News Website, 2014. http://www.artnews.com/2014/05/22/julie-cockburn-embroiders-vintage-photographs/
Shipe, T. The International Dada Archive. The University of Lowa Libraries Websites, 2012. http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/history.htm
Tzara, T. DADA. The Art Story Website, 2016. http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm
Watkins, J. Featured Artist: Julie Cockburn. Theology, Imagination, and the Arts Website, 2011. https://itiablog.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/featured-artist-julie-cockburn/
Younger, C. JULIE COCKBURN. Claire Younger-Image Lab Website, 2015. https://ilclaireyounger.wordpress.com