Modernism

Artistic modernism can be understood as the belief that artists should be creative, and the more creative, the more original their work is, the more artistic it is; if possible, art should be radically original, radically creative.  This is in contrast, of course, to the notion that art should be traditional, somehow based or grounded on tradition.

Coming up with new ideas, of course, is difficult.  One can easily fall into despair, and whine that all of the ideas have already been had.  Thus modernism necessarily implies a kind of hope - a hope that new ideas are indeed possible.

Related to this is social modernism, which is the belief that one can structure social relationships without grounding these social relationships in tradition.  You can, as it were, invent your social relationships.  Love, for instance: you can invent love.

Perhaps, fundamentally, modernism is an enthusiasm, a kind of energy. 

All of this is, of course, questionable.  But to question it is already to allow, into your room, the dark spirit of postmodernism.  To question what modernism means, and whether modernism is possible, is already to let some of your energy flag.  That questioning spirit, that asks whether it truly is possible to invent love, or whether you will inevitably end up following the same old patterns, is profoundly conservative and reactionary.

As Daniel Johnston sings:

"Despair came knocking,

And I let her in

For a while.

 

She sat on the couch 

And began smoking.

She said

Nothing. 

 

Suddenly, I felt tired.

I began to feel tired.

And all of the sudden

The room seemed dingy and dirty.

 

Despair came knocking.

And I let her in.

For a while."

It's okay that we let the spirit of postmodernism in for a while.  

But now it's time for postmodernism to leave.