Please Note: Although there have been other usages of the term “reconstructivist art”, this particular theory originates with this website. If you find it interesting or inspirational, please let me know; if you use it or cite it in your work, please link back here.
A reconstructivist artwork is a post-deconstructionist artwork, in which the disassembled elements of art and meaning have been reassembled in new and better ways.
Deconstructionism
The deconstructionist trend in art was to question and to violate every convention and structure of classic art, to decontextualize meaning, and to discard or distort all the recognizable elements of classic art, such as form and perspective in the visual arts, melody and harmony in the auditory arts, plot and character in novels and plays, and rhyme and meter in poetry. Instead, these were replaced with irony and self-awareness, as novels referred to themselves as works of fiction, and paintings labeled themselves as works of art.
- Deconstructionism provided a much needed jolt of energy and creativity into an artworld that had become stagnant and lackluster. But audiences often found deconstructionist art to be distancing and unfriendly, heartless and confusing.As the twentieth century drew to a close, deconstructionist art mutated and became more audience-friendly, as the post-modernist sensibility entered popular culture in forms such as:
- collage, where photographs and preexisting artworks are taken out of context and reassembled in surprising ways
- rap music, where the samples function as a sonic collage and the lyrics often refer to themselves and to other songs in a self-aware fashion
- Postmodern_literature, where the lines between autobiography and fiction are deliberately blurred, and the narrator comments on his own existence as an unreliable narrator.
Reconstructivism
A reconstructivist art work builds upon prior, deconstructionist artworks and techniques, but adapts them to classic themes and structures, with the goal of creating works of genuine emotion and significance. In this way, reconstructivism (when it works) combines the vitality and originality of deconstructionism with the comforts, pleasures and rewards of classicism. The overall purpose of reconstructivism is to reawaken a sense of the Real in a world where everything has been demonstrated to be an illusion.
A reconstructivist artwork has four distinctive characteristics:
- A Nod to Artifice: As with deconstructionism, a reconstructivist artwork is aware of its own status as a creation, an illusion or a fiction. However, unlike a deconstructionist work, a reconstructivist is not ironic, or if so, it is not merely ironic. It compels you to believe in its own deeper reality, even as it acknowledges its superficial artificiality.
- A Classic Structure: Despite the inclusion of surprising or startling elements, a reconstructivist artwork is always based on a classic or conventional structure.
- Transcontextual and/or Iconic Elements: A reconstructivist artwork is literally a construct, generally made of decontextualized elements from many different sources. These elements are often exaggerated or made iconic and archetypal in a very conscious, self-aware fashion. Often an explicit reference is made to a prior work, which itself may be based on another yet-earlier work.
- Moments of Genuine Emotion or Significance:No matter how theatrical, cynical or shallow it might appear, a reconstructivist artwork must portray real emotions or inspire a genuine emotional response.
Examples of Reconstructivist Art
Added December 2004
- Julie Taymor’s Lion King
- Art Spiegelman’s Maus
- William Goldman’s The Princess Bride
- Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story
- R. Stevens’ Diesel Sweeties
- Wyclef Jean’s Mona Lisa
- The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper
- Tailsteak’s 1/0
Added January 2006
- The Fugees’ The Score
Added March 2007
- Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien
Added September 2007
- Jason Godeke’s Unstill Lives
Added January 2008
- Walter Hill and David Shaber’s The Warriors
Added November 2008
- George Lucas’ Star Wars
- Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Added May 2009
- Kutiman’s Thru You
Added June 2010
- Artist Kehinde Wiley
- Molle Industria’s Every Day the Same Dream
Added August 2010
- Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese
Other Uses of the Term “Reconstructivist”
The most influential use of the term “reconstructivist” was pioneered by the revolutionary educator Paulo Friere. Although the two terms (Friere’s, and the one in use here) were coined independently, they are related, in as much as reconstructivist education involves breaking down oppressive or obsolete beliefs and structures, and then rebuilding towards a new and better society.
The use of the term “reconstructivist” here has no relationship, however, either to the art movement known as “Medieval Reconstructivism” or to the religious movement known as “Christian Reconstructionism”.
Artists and Musicians Influenced By This Article
Scott C. Clemens, filmmaker – The Scarlet Avenger
W. David Ward, painter
Suzanah Moorer, multimedia – Recasting the Real
Daniel Foe, musician
Brian Vissagio, writer
Aux Mailles Godefroy, artifacteurs
Charles Fox, musician
The Pseudoverse, virtual reality
12 Comments
I’ve been intrigued by the idea of reconstructivism for some time and have enjoyed your site. I feel that my work, particularly paintings such as the ones at the accompanying link, very much conform to the characteristics I have found here and else where.
Best regards,
David
I stumbled across this reading about The Princess Bride, and realized that it is a mode that I very much enjoy. After reading it, I constantly notice examples of it elsewhere. It has become a major elements of my aesthetics. Thanks!
I’d heard the term Reconstructionivist in this context and wondered what it meant exactly, so thank you for educating me on this subject.
Nabokov introduces ‘Lolita’ as a found manuscript narrated and authored by Humbert Humbert.
I first read this article last year, and it is a great reference describing a feature of 21st century art that is surely becoming increasingly prominent. There is some music on my site that is influenced by reconstructivism in a certain (silent) way.
Thank you so much. I was having a very difficult time understanding Deconstructive vs. Reconstructive Postmodernism. After searching for hours, your website hit it home for me.
This is an interesting concept. I would like to see what you have to say about Kehinde Wylie as a site of reconstructivist art. It should be interesting
That’s a great thought. I had never thought of Wylie in that context, but you’re right, he definitely fits the pattern. I’ve added an entry on him here: Kehinde Wiley
I am an artist and recently have been attempting to define what I see as an emerging art movement, after thinking about the movement I wanted to call it reconstructionism, so I was surprised to see your article that was in many ways similar and many ways very different, I was hoping to see what you thought about my idea. Obviously I need a new name.
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Postmodernism nurtured an inability to identify facts due to contextualization and deconstruction. Believing that all ideas became products of time and place with no more or less merit leaves little room for progress. Reconstructivists acknowledge that information is hard to piece together due to this extremely intricate and interconnected world. We however believe that this is no reason to be defeatist and that the best goal is an attempt at finding emergent patterns and to reconnect the deconstructed dots. Reconstructivists are aware of the overwhelming amount of information available, much of which is conflicting, and believe that what we need is a way to organize and connect this mountain of information in a more clean and concise manner than previously available. A reconstructivist either simplifies information to identify the core, or brings disparate areas of information together to create a new understanding.
The Reconstructivist Manifesto:
1: A reconstructivist work is similar to a math equation in that the final piece is the factual sum of its parts, and can be proven. Example: 156.4 net hours by Alejandro Almanza Pereda.
2: Concept, aesthetics, material, and process, are all seamlessly entwined. The piece must be as direct and transparent as possible. The artist’s biography is unimportant to understanding the work. A reconstructivist artist does not possess a unique aesthetic but rather a conceptual theme that demands its own aesthetic. Example: Tara Donovan’s Glue or Cups. Marc Quinn’s Self. Tom Friedman’s ring of cups.
3: Reconstructivism attempts to clarify not confuse, so their work should be as direct and straightforward as possible. Mark Lombardi.
4: Reconstructivism embraces global realities or Truths. Cultures may hold differing faiths and beliefs, but the world can no longer embrace contradictory facts. Postmodern thought put all cultural beliefs on a level playing field, reconstructivists reject this thinking: facts can be proven. Believes the experience of Truth is a sublime one which society craves. Paul Rucker’s Proliferation.
6: Reconstructivism rejects the irony, humor, pessimism, and obsession over faulty thinking that permeates postmodern art. We are instead concerned with what we can say about our world, what truths we can piece together.
(important to note that all artists mentioned are not aware of my lumping them in this movement, and that many of their works do not fit within this movement)
I would love to talk more.
Ben Valentine
Hopefully I appreciate what is the noble in the noble, as that is what makes one feel good about one’s self and world:
But reading your article of reconstructionism for the same reasons I argued in an open letters with a writer for E-Flux journal that merely changing labels or minor perceptional points does not in essence change matters.
Your points on art, are in a contextual negation of all that came before and lead up to deconstructionism. I too wish to find context for my art work, but the stepping off point as a root cause, is not deconstructionism but Dadaism, which in reaction to the bourgeois status quo in art that culminated in the brutal events of World War I and eventually which lead to World War II with similar consequences; and which continues today as it has since then can not be ignored.
Currently I am in the process of writing a poetry manuscript where I was touching upon what I called “bourgeois art” monetized and marketed conservative and broadly liberal without soul or depth in context, realizing fulling at different times some bourgeois art played keys roles historically (Beethoven, Schiller,) in the ascent of the bourgeois in bourgeois democratic revolutions, which ascended and all but stopped in ascent as it acheives an apex.
Today bourgeois society is in decline morals ethics law business as it becomes a heavy burdensome weight of opposing factions much like the end of the Roman republic.
So what replaces it?
Your reconstructionist art falls short for it presupposes the solutions to society’s grand problems, perhaps as a world view it is fine but on an international universal scale it is insufficient to address indigenous tribal art at the same time large scale corporate art on equal footings, for the art was not made in a vacuum.
I will post this on my blog site also in the category Blog Waste. And make references but I find no reason to agree as you approach art merely as the deconstructionists have from what I describe as a tactical or utilitarian value of how to execute art; and how to rationalize art, which is not at issue as that is easy by merely making art. Art theory is for the bourgeois, artists make art, they learn theory and forget it, then struggle to produce it.
As a foot note I have come to learn of Nelson Rockefeller the CIA and US government in the development of Abstract Expressionism (1950-1960s) as to oppose Soviet Realism. You should find that interesting to study since it exposes the shame and fraud of the art market, art academics and artists for the last 60 years to see how all these views were corrupt, how the Paris Review, Hudson Review, Encounters, and Congress for Cultural Freedom were used as CIA fronts.
PS I am modifying my use of the term Reconstructionism to conform with your use of the term Reconstructivist, though it is interesting to note in religion Reconstructionism refers in Judaism to a modern branch of Judaism its tenets and beliefs which have similarly attempted to piece back together and repair what over time seems broken or outdated, exclusive and not holistic in Judaism, that is to me a kin to your reapproachment to art and deconstructivism.
I am studying Suzi Gablik’s book, The Reenchantment of Art, and wondered what has been happening in the 12 years or so since she wrote it. Thanks for the discussion of these schools of thought.
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