Western Culture the Western Civilisation Research Proposal

Many have underlined the importance of the various techniques that he used, mixing painting with writing, collage and adding elements which apparently had nothing in common with the rest of the composition. I believe that the technique itself is extremely important for the construction of meaning. In Basquiat's works, the meaning is to be found hiding behind various layers. Although the scenes are often realistic (familiar street imagery), the message is to be deciphered through an effort of the intellect. Everything has a why and the receiver of the message must decode it.

Andy Warhol, a representative of pop art is to be admired amongst other things for having managed to make people wonder what art really was. The Campbell's tomato soup painting showed what man had become. An industrial product orientated towards consumption. His is a rational and not emotional interpretation of humanity. One of his most famous works are part of the "Last supper" cycle. From a certain point-of-view, it can be interpreted as the triumph of reason over the belief in god, because it is with the help of reason that reality can be observed in an objective manner. The price tags and the commercial logos are nothing but a sign of what people really value with faith being nothing but an illusory alternative to the real existence.

Pablo Picasso is another artist whose works are representative n this direction.The philosophical currents mentioned above have contributed to the creation of various political ideologies as well which suggested beautiful ideals which were impossible to be realized. Man has the power to create but his hunger of power often ends up with destructive, devastating consequences. His painting, Guernica is a relevant interpretation of this reality. Picasso's works are an x-ray of human nature and human reality. He decomposes these realities into pieces which he then recomposes. This is a proof of understanding things not through intuition, but through reason based on elevated knowledge.

All in all it is safe to say that the beliefs in the power of reason, freedom and the power of the individual to shape his destiny and his own self were of central importance in currents of thinking such as classicism, rationalism and humanism. The values that these values promoted are reflected in artefacts such as the paintings of various artists among which we may include Jean Michel Basquait, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Bibliography:

Grayling, A.C. "Meditations for the humanist: ethics for a secular age." Oxford University Press, 2005

Herrick, Jim. "Humanism, an introduction." Prometheus Books, 2005

Honour, Hugh. "Neo-classicism (style and civilization)." Penguin (neo-classics). 1991

"Rationalism vs. Empiricism," Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, retrieved April 24, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/.....