One of the most debated and theorized topics throughout the course of art history has been the issue of representation. The problem of representation in art can be traced back to antiquity, specifically through Plato's concept of mimesis (imitation). For this reason, the concept of representation is a shared concern for both art and philosophy. According to Plato, “art is a phenomenon, an imitation of the idea.”
Starting from this statement, we could say that the entirety of art history—from the primitive periods of art to the advent of modern art movements—is a history of representation. The sociological and anthropological analysis of any given period can be observed through the artworks of that time. The artist has much to convey to the viewer about the era.
I mentioned the beginnings of modern art because, at the start of the twentieth century, visual art began to move away from the depiction of narrative and the portrayal of people, placing pure aesthetics at the forefront. However, it is not possible to claim that the priority of representation completely disappeared in this period either.“The entire history of art is a history of representation. In this respect, we understand knowledge about past cultures, in the broadest sense, through past forms of representation and the references embedded in those forms.” (Alp, 2013, p. 41)
Based on this statement, we can say that the period of art history up to modernism contains elements of the era’s representation. The artworks produced by artists provide a structure through which we can analyze their environment, society, and the sociological values of that society. Following this, with the emergence of modernist movements, the central role of visual art in representation began to diminish.
After the 1960s, the questioning logic introduced by postmodern discourse prompted a re-evaluation of previously established aesthetic values and the issue of representation. At the core of this period of questioning lies the notion that all representations from the past to the present are constructs and are not purely objective. The idea that realistic representations are just as conditional and constructed as alternate versions of reality has given new meaning to “representation” as a concept in contemporary art, integrating it into art in a transformed way.
This new model of representation suggests that whatever is represented exists as a reality entirely within our minds. While science and technology continue to operate on the assumption that an objective reality exists independently of human subjectivity, art increasingly takes this idea into account. Today, we can say that the reality of what is represented exists as much in the mind of the individual, making it subjective and variable.
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