Idiosyncratic Identities: Artists at the End of the Avant-Garde

by Donald B. Kuspit

Postmodernism has been described as a decadent and pluralistic period, where avant-garde art has been institutionalised, stereotyped and effectively neutralised; and where models of art seem to stand in ironical, nihilistic relationship to every other. In this study, Donald Kuspit argues that only the idiosyncratic artist remains credible and convincing in the postmodern era. He pursues a sense of artistic and human identity in a situation where there are no guidelines, art historically or socially. Idiosyncratic art, Kuspit posits, is a radically personal art that establishes unconscious communication between individuals in doubt of their identity. Functioning as a medium of self-identification, it affords a sense of authentic selfhood and communicative intimacy in a postmodern society where authenticity and intimacy seem irrelevant and absurd.

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Donald Kuspit is an American art critic, poet, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of art history and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and former professor of art history at the School of Visual Arts. Kuspit is one of America's most distinguished art critics.