>>>What then of postmodernism, which often seems to be about the puzzle, so much that sometimes the puzzle is the only way to view the photo that makes sense. Look at Richard Prince's re-photographs, for example. Visually, there is very little meaning that can be drawn unless one understands the origin of the photographs (like the "Marlboro Man" image) and then has the key to the puzzle. Without that, there is nothing. There is no other "solution," just the inside joke about advertising and imagery.<<<
There's more than a singular way to look at the work of Doug Prince, Sherry Levine and others who have "rephotographed" others' prints. In many ways, they were foreshadowed by the work of people like Lee Friedlander, Mark Klett, (not to mention scores of others), who have been engaged in a form of nature photography: The nature of the medium, its history and how it works, how it has reshaped the world and, perhaps, consciousness itself.
There's been literally volumes written on Prince and Levine, a short googling ought to reveal some of this, and rest assured that it's more than about one solution.
For example, in the case of Prince, it could be said that he is asserting that the Ocean of Images has become a world of its own, a legitimate reality/subject for photography to address. He also is decontextualizing the Marlboro images from their original locus and gestalt, creating multiple new meanings and associations, as well as addressing the significance of these issues within the context of the medium. A lot of room for thought there, and no "solution", but more questions (In the very sense that Winogrand said that photography was not about a solution to the problem, but a stating of the problem).
It should also be pointed out that Prince and Levine are a miniscule subset of Postmodernism. One of the hallmarks of Modernism was the psychological angle, and the artist held the solitary key to that. Pomo displaces that paradigm, sharing it between the artist, the cultural web he exists in, and the viewer, and emphasizing a multipicity of possible meanings, not one. BTW, reading theory has been on a parallel track to this for years, I am told.
While it is currently very fashionable to kick Pomo around (and I know Jeff is not doing this), its ideas have withstood the test of time long enough to earn a solid place in Art History, much to the dismay of its detractors. Not to worry, Pomo, too, will pass.
There's been a surge of a humanistic Modernism, particularly after the recent horrors, but it remains to be seen if it will be of any significance over time.
--- Luis
