Contemporary Art: Are we there yet?
1960s and 1970s and On...
The 1960s and 1970s were times of great social change. Civil rights, anti-war protests, women's and gay liberation movements all happen in this time period. They take a little while to trickle into the art world though--which still sometimes seemed to be concerned in making art about art...
Frank Stella and other Hard Edge painters experimented with the effects of juxtaposing colours, new shapes of canvases and removing any painterly elements. Minimalism (ex. Donald Judd) is a similar movement in sculpture. Pretty much no representations of the human body :(
Frank Stella and other Hard Edge painters experimented with the effects of juxtaposing colours, new shapes of canvases and removing any painterly elements. Minimalism (ex. Donald Judd) is a similar movement in sculpture. Pretty much no representations of the human body :(
Appropriation or Quotation: Andy Warhol(Pop Art)
Modern vs. Contemporary
Modernity has a sense of progress, breaking with tradition, and newness. Often new "isms" were established. Manifestoes were written. There is a focus on formal elements.
Contemporary Art is pluralistic: there is "no single path forward, only a multitude of different, equally valid paths" (Arn). New kinds of art-making featuring non-traditional materials and practices appear.
Art often starts to be discussed in terms of the themes it addresses, such as identity (race, gender, sexuality, national identity, etc.) the environment, memory, time, consumerism, capitalism, technology, globalization, and the body!
Conceptual Art is art where the idea is the most important element.
Arn, Jackson. "When Did Contemporary Art Start?" Artsy, Feb. 11 2019, https://www.artsy.net › article › artsy-editorial-contemporary-art-start
Text: Jenny Holzer
Collage: Max Ernst/Assemblage: Meret Oppenheim (have Surrealist Roots)
Performances/art actions: Anna Mendieta
Installation and mixed media: Nicolas Galanin
Staged photos/artists working with photography: Sandy Skoglund
While many 20th Century photographers went out to "capture" the "decisive moment", Contemporary Artists often use photography to document performance or installation works (see above).
Interestingly, there are also contemporary photographers who (like Julia Margaret Cameron) set up elaborate sets or events that exist only to be photographed. Sandy Skoglund creates elaborate surreal interiors in complementary colours.
Interestingly, there are also contemporary photographers who (like Julia Margaret Cameron) set up elaborate sets or events that exist only to be photographed. Sandy Skoglund creates elaborate surreal interiors in complementary colours.