Contemporary Art Lecture

Many key historical events have shaped how contemporary artContemporary art is art created by living artists today. It is innovative, thought-provoking and reflects issues of our time. Artworks are done in a variety of mediums: painting, sculpture, video, performing arts, etc. Contemporary art often questions traditional definitions, explores identity politics, and culture. More has evolved. Remember, the words evolve, and evolutionthe gradual development of something from a simple to a more complex form; a gradual, progressive change; in nature, different organisms develop and diversify from earlier forms; Darwin's theory of natural selection seeks to explain the process of evolution of all organisms More means “change.” Big world events can cause change, like the end of World WarWar:  A state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state. II. Other smaller events can also drive change in artthe expressive or application of human creative skill and imagination in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, or in music, literature, or dance; art is created primarily for beauty and emotional power; and "holds art is anything the viewer or listener finds aesthetically pleasing.". Some movements emerge, like Abstract Expressionism, in the 1940s and 50s. It became a dominant art movement and paved the way for other movements like Color Fielda place where on location research is conducted; also known as fieldwork, or participant observation on various sites painting, Action painting, and the rise of Pop Art in the 1960s. Artists of the Abstract Expressionism movement emphasized the process of creation and the artist’s emotional journey during that creative time. The movement also was about personal expression, freedom, and experimentation. The AE movement continues to inspire contemporary artists today. The film below explains what Color Field painting is. When one turns a page and begins to think differently about art, an unusual perspective develops, as you shall see.

A post after the film explains: “For me, what matters most in a painting I am viewing is to what extent it engages me perceptually, viscerally, or emotionally. It doesn’t matter what style of painting it is. The effect it has on me is a reflection of my inner experience or consciousness.” Another post said: “My first large painting was a color field painting. I love the genre. I find that when viewing color fields, I connect in three ways. I connect to one specific color, then how that relates to the other colors, and then to the shapes themselves. I find that seeing minimalist paintings evokes a greater emotion in me because they are not telling me what to see or how to see it. I think I learn more about myself and my statea state is an independent political entity with a centralized government and set geographical boundaries where control is exercised by police or military; a state claims the right to defend itself from both internal and external threats by use of force; a state may have many villages and cities and/or millions or billions of people as in China and India of mind while delving into a color field.” The artistic movements mentioned above, as well as Minimalism and the use of technologythe system by which a society provides its members with things needed or desired, along with knowledge for the use and maintenance of the system More, all have contributed to a shift in works of art. This shift focuses on societal issues and cultural norms(cultural) norms are the shared expectations and rules that guide how people behave in a society or group, either formally or informally More rather than the aesthetic beauty of an art form. The end of WWII is considered the beginning of contemporary art, marked by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Those two artists expressed emotions through large-scale, spontaneous works. Pollock was an American painter whose work in the abstract expressionist movement was widely admired for what he called “drip technique.” His paintings were deemed action paintings while exploring themes like surrealist navigation of the unconscious and Jungian symbolism. Following is a Jungian video made just before he died. Carl Jung’s belief about symbols was that they were a way to access the unconscious mind. He believed symbols were a languagea system of symbols that allow people to communicate with each other, also the MOST symbolic way that culture is passed down all their own, which could convey hidden or unknown meanings.

Jung thought symbols could be expressed in many ways: geometric forms, humans, semi-humans, gods and goddesses, animals and plants. He thought their symbolic content came from the unconscious to consciousness by the unconscious through archetypes. A symbolsomething that stands for, represents, or suggests another thing - human culture is symbolic More that is familiar and appears in multiple stories from across cultures is an archetype.

The Pop Art of the 1950s and 1960s was another radical departure from traditional art. It incorporated popular cultural images from advertisements and consumerism. Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were “pop artists.” Learn more about pop art from the following links:

https://www.riseart.com/guide/2352/guide-to-pop-art

https://artworks.com.sg/news/why-is-andy-warhol-significant-in-the-contemporary-art-world/#:~:text=Andy%20Warhol%20wasn’t%20just,had%20taken%20over%20the%20nation.

Take notes on Andy Warhol’s techniques and themes.  You willa document stating how a person wants real and personal property divided after death More use these notes in your assignment at the end of Lesson 4 in this Contemporary Art eCourse.

Technological advancements like enhanced photography options, video, iPhones, and digital art have impacted contemporary artists and their art.  Other factors like social and political activism, globalizationall nations and peoples are interconnected in today's world due to massive flow of goods and services, importation of labor, immigration, technology, finance capital, outsourcing of businesses, and infectious diseases; globalization promotes rapid culture change and adaptations, which blur the lines of cultural components More, and institutional critique also influence contemporary art. There have been many contemporary art movements.  The link below from TC The* Collector outlines the eleven “Most Notable.”

https://www.thecollector.com/9-best-contemporary-art-movements/ 

Contemporary art, unlike esthetic beauty in art, challenges traditions, realism, emotion, and cultural norms with the prospect of making a social impact statement.