The liberation of the plastic arts

Bazin's definition of the dual aims of art as psychological realism and aesthetic realism-- and how their fundamental clash caused a crisis in traditional plastic arts-- really resonated with me. I think that the use of "traditional" plastic media to produce aesthetically realistic works is sort of like sticking your finger in the hole in the dike. That is to say, prior to photography, the use of these media was an imperfect manipulation, and arguably distortion, as a way to satisfy the desire to produce aesthetic likenesses. However, as Bazin intimates, this was not a use which maximized the plastic media-- rather, the natural qualities of these media were subjugated for the sake of representation.

The notion of photography relieving the other plastic arts of the burden of capturing aesthetic reality, thus liberating these media for more "appropriate" artistic tasks, fascinates me. The plastic arts, according to Bazin, were freed up to focus on the psychologically real. If I continue this train of thought, it seems to me that, just as photography is the most desirable medium for achieving aesthetic realism, conceptual art is the "medium" which allows for the purest achievement of psychological realism. It seems that there is a second liberation wave for the plastic media

For me, the implications of these new media (photographic and conceptual) are enormously encouraging for the continued evolution of traditional plastic media. For very long, these media have been used as "best fit" options for the dual goals of art as stated by Bazin. Now, however, it seems that these media may, for the first time, be in a position of absolute freedom from the traditional goals of art. 

Far from rendering these media irrelevant, I believe that this is a tremendous opportunity to expand the goals of art-- it seems that a third category, at least, of "realism" will have the chance to emerge. Now that paint, sculpture, drawing, and so on do not have to stretch to fill old media voids, to transubstantiate into what they are not (aesthetically real or psychologically real), they are free to express in a completely unpressured way. I'd like to hypothesize "media realism," or a return (or first arrival?) to the unadulterated nature of these materials as what may come from this new and exciting liberation.  And, as a side-note, how fascinating, that this revolutionary new aim or nature of art may be borne of the oldest artistic media!