Postmodernism blends old themes with new contemporary issues to create beautiful artwork that commands, questions, and captivates all viewers to participate in discovering its inner meaning. Along with an inner meaning and beauty, it was used as a form of communication that was directed towards social, political, and cultural problems within the world. An architect Robert Stern states, “ The fundamental shift to post-modernism has to do with the reawakening of artists in every field to public responsibilities of art. Once again art is being regarded as an act of communication.” (Wilkin, Schultz, Linduff, “Art Past Art Present, p.579) The postmodern era emancipated its artists from old traditional barriers that bounded them. The belief that everything could be used to produce art was used to the fullest. For instance, mediums like photography, computer animations, and movies. Even non-precise metals like steel, aluminum, and iron were used along side with gold and silver. Technology was a great medium that was also utilized, as newer and improved technology was developed some one would utilize it to immortalize his/her artwork.One of the well-known artists of the postmodern era was Jean-Pierre Yvaral. Jean utilized technology called digital imaging to manipulate pictures and transform them into his own creative art pieces. A well-known publicized piece Jean created was called “Mona Lisa Synthetisee.” (Fiero 4th Edition “The Humanistic Tradition” p.159) Blending the old with a twist of the new, Jean took the Mona Lisa, which was created by Leonardo da Vinci and cropped out only her head and digitized it to produce a perspective like image. This image had four sides, right and left, top and bottom, and a centerpiece that commanded attention because it connected all four sides. It was the focal point of the digitized portrait. His style is unique in that he chooses five major squares t...
