“Art, the expression of society, manifests, in its highest soaring, the most advanced social tendencies: it is the forerunner and the revealer. Therefore, to know whether art worthily fulfill its proper mission as initiator, whether the artist is truly of the avant-garde, one must know where Humanity is going, know what the destiny of the human race is…. To lay bare with a brutal brush all the brutalities, all the filth, which are at the base of our society.” - Gabriel-Desire Laverdant (De la mission de l’art et du role des artistes)
Who is considered to be Avant-Garde nowadays?
Banksy Shepard Fairey
“However we may judge avant-garde art when we meet it, for us the phenomenon and idea are so present and evident that we do not stop, even momentarily, to wonder if we might be dealing with an illusion or an appearance rather than a reality, with a myth or a superstition rather than a concept.” “… In the case of avant-garde art, the hypothesis that it existed previous to the era which coined its name is an anachronism twice over: it judges the past in terms of the present and the future. An authentic avant-garde can arise only when the concept as we know it emerges.” - Renato Poggioli (The Theory of the Avant-Garde)
Ren Hang
Ai Weiwei
Tontey
What is considered to be avant-garde in this modern era? • Is it related to freedom of speech (opinions)? Is the term terminated now (in most places) because people and society are aware of the rights? • How is it being introduce to mass audience? Or its not meant to be for people in common (just certain groups)? • Is it suppose to hold something political? What’s the subject, discussion or content behind it? Does it need to have a certain agenda? Or can it be a propaganda? • Is it the act of doing the art, or is it the art itself that considered as avantgarde?