Common Objects : postmodernist discourse, naivety and the logic of consumption in the work of Donald Baechler

Abstract: This is a poststructuralist study of strategies of representation in the work of American artist Donald Baechler. Tracing late-modern discourse on consumer society and cultural fragmentation - as well as art historical debates on the demise of painting - in a number of paintings by Baechler, I attempt to shed some light on key issues in contemporary figurative art. The three central themes I explore are the conflict between figuration and abstraction, appropriation and the logic of consumption, and representation of marginal voices. Furthermore, I place Baechler in relatrion to Pop Art, naivism and Outsider Art.