Embedded in the commercialized ideological dazzle of ART/BASEL in general and postmodern art specifically is a serious reality that the art establihment would rather not acknowledge. It concerns the prophetic nature of postmodernism.

I hear frequently that our country is in a state of decline. We identify a national government that has become so polarized that it is unable to deal with the issues at hand…issues that if addressed could help reverse this slide. I see pragmatic approaches to problem solving challenged by ideology…where the search for and discovery of solutions are stymied by those who bring to the tables of discussion preconceived solutions…claiming they know the absolute objective truth in advance. Thus, we face a political conundrum, where those parties charged to do the business of government are unable to reach compromise to address and solve the issues that are in the nation’s interest.

When and how did this circumstance begin? Some point to the recent entry of ideology as an approach to government occurring at the turn of this century with the emergence of a “born-again” presidential mentality that fostered preconceived “gut” feelings in place of prgmatism (i.e. preemptive war) as the means for executive decision making; perhaps. However, I see the roots of this enigma going deeper…much deeper, at least half a century in time deeper.

Fifty years ago our national cultural appreciations began a dramatic shift. We went culturally from accepting a pragmatic approach to art creativity to one immersed in ideology…where those who create “art” believed that they possessed the absolute object truth and are endowed by the intellect of their free will to preconceive their creations. What we see appreciated and estemmed as great art today as exemplified at events like ART/BASEL (i.e. a line of urinals plastered to a wall, basket balls floating in a fish tank, cigarette butts crushed in an ashtray), are ideological conceived “art” relics of a decadent society.

This concept “idea” of manufactured art began nearly 50 years ago when the art establishment accepted Marcel Duchamp’s theory of art as gospel to begin the postmodern era. At such time was introduced a national postmodern cultural conundrum, involvling a cultural appreciation for the art of ideology; an ideology where the creating artist knows the absolute objective truth in advance and believes he can draw upon his free will to preconceive art. What at the time was unseen with the emergence of this cultural ideological belief was the prophetic message it contained. It set the stage for a conundrum in the political arena that is far more devisive than could have been imagined. It was prophetic…that once society’s cultural judgment turned to ideology as the true pathway to human creativity that at some time in the future the business of government would invariably follow suit. (Ironically, in both these conundrum arenas it is but one percent of society that exerts influence and control.)

As an artist and a research analyst I have spent the last three years examining the theory behind postmodernism to unravel its cultural conundrum and prove it to be fiction. If only we can learn from the mistake of our cultural delusion, perhaps the new knowledge we garner can be applied to disprove the assumed worth of political ideology as well.

My report can be read on the NEW YORK ARTS MAGAZINE’s web site at:

http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/catalogue-2011/the-paper-collagist-george-sakkal