postmodernism is messy

I've been thinking about postmodernism lately, since I'm currently teaching that theoretical perspective to my contemporary art students. In a nutshell, postmodernism is a rejection of modernism. Modernism is a mid-20th century movement which basically believes that art and architecture should stand on its own - modern art doesn't celebrate the viewer or even consider the viewer's reaction/experience to a work of art. Modern art is self-referential, and you can argue that it is very austere. Postmodernism, on the other hand, embraces the viewer's reactions, interpretations, personality, cultural makeup, etc. Basically, when it comes to the art world, I think postmodern thought is an explosion of "anything goes" sentiment. Right now, any and all interpretations/creations of art are valid within a postmodern paradigm.

Anyhow, with that background, perhaps you'll see the humor in my recent chat with J. The two things that have been on my mind lately, postmodernism and cleanliness came together here:

me: tidiness is a modern aesthetic, i would say.clean lines, no distraction, no evidence of the viewer/humans

J: quite

me: messiness is postmodern

J: which I've always thought was pretty ironic about me

me: yeah, i've thought it too

actually :)

J: I love the clean, thought-out and considered nature of modernism, but fail to ever actually live that way

me: ha ha

J: but I'm learning

me: well, good thing your wife adheres to modern tidiness

J: yep

me: and keeps you from being postmodern