Discerning the Domestic in Post-Modernist Painting 
Ellie Rodwell - Bullock, BA (Hons) Fine Art Graduate

Abstract:

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Ellie Rodwell Bullock’s article discusses whether it is possible to discern and define a continuing concern with the representation of the domestic in the Postmodern era, drawing on activity within contemporary art between 1950 and the early 2000s. In relation to this, the reasons for the trends towards or away from its representation will be explored. The focus of this discussion is on the idea of ‘domesticity,’ which while closely related to the literal space of the home, refers more conceptually to its associated themes –privacy, intimacy, comfort and decoration, and a focus on familial relationships (Reed, 1996, p. 7). These concepts imagine a home environment identified not by any specific physical or practical qualities, but by the human experience of its space (Bachelard, 1958), and similarly, Rybczynski (1986) emphasises the increasing separation between the terms of home and house.