Middle Eastern Art in the Transmodern Paradigm: The Study of Three Movements in the Contemporary Art of the Middle East

Two decades have passed since the formation of the Middle East art movement. Among the diversity of artistic styles and experiences, three movements can be recognized. First, the flow of modern art in the Middle East; A trend that is the legacy of the decades of peak modern art in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt during the 1960s to 1990s. The second movement, influenced by the post-modern paradigm, had a critical and social approach to the policies of Islamic countries in the Middle East, and with the intensification of war and oil conflicts after September 11, it peaked and became the dominant stream of Middle Eastern art. The third trend is a new trend that was formed under the trans-modern paradigm. The question is what are the fields of formation of Middle Eastern art trends and what changes has Middle Eastern art experienced in these paradigmatic developments. In order to answer this question, the present article intends to explain the transmodernist theoretical approach and in the continuation of it, the description of the Middle East art trends, to deal with the components and characteristics of the contemporary art of the Middle East in the transmodern paradigm. For this purpose, the descriptive-analytical method has been used, as well as the adaptation of the three currents mentioned with the transmodern theoretical approach. The findings of the research show that a significant part of the contemporary artists of the Middle East are trying to go beyond the postmodernist approach that has a critical and blocking view of the flow of native modernity and to form a new type of contemporary art with native and local connotations with the transmodernist approach.