Lesson 9

Caught in Between: Modern and Contemporary Art

Modern arts
The digresssion of artist away from the past coventions and traditions and toward
freedom. There is a famus adage of ‘anything goes’ with the world becoming increasingly
complex, it required an art that could accommodate such range and bredth.
The period that ensured was touted contemporary art. In order to move forward, it is necessary
to underscore that this can be better understood after a starting point has been established.
Compared to the dense taxonomy of modern arts, contemporary atr had fewer-isms under its
wing. Perhaps, this was also due to the fact that it is still unfolding.
This period can be trace from the 1970’s to the present:
1. The 1970s saw the emergence of ‘Postmodernism.’ The affix was a clue that whatever
followed was segregated from it precursor.
2. The 1970s saw the decline of the clearer identified artistic movements.
Contemporary arts
Is the most socially awer and involed form arts. The subject matter of its works was one
of the most pressing, heated, and even controvercial issues of Contemporary society.
OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART MOVEMENTS
Neo-Pop Art
In the 1980’s there was a renedew interest in pop art specifically to Andy Warhol’s
works and his contemporaries.
Photorealism
The resurgence figurative art, where realistic depictions is a choice, is a proof now
varied and fragmented postmodernism is.
A painstaking attention to detail is aimed, without asserting an artist’s personal style.
Conceptualism
The idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artis uses a
conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand
and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
Performance art
Is related to conceptual art, whose roster of well-known artist include the likes of
Marina Abramovic Yoko Ono, and Joseph Beuys.
Installation Art
Is a kind of an immersive work where the environment or the space in which the viewer
steps into or interacts with(going around installative art) is trasformed or altered.
Earth Art
Considered as a kind or a spin-off of installation art, earth art is when the natural
environment or a specific site or space is trasformed by artist.
Street Art
This movement is related to graffiti art as it is a by-product of the sire of graffiti in the
1980’s.

Lesson 10

Soul making, Appropriation, and Improvisation

Soul making: Making and Deriving Meaning from Art
In order for human to make sense of language and derive meanings from
words,semantics and gramatical rules are important element to be considered.
Style – It refers to the distinctive handing of elements and media associated with the work of an
individual artist, a school, a movement, or a specifict culture or timperiod (Ficher-Rathus, 2013).

Improvisation
Defined as doing something without prior preparation. There is a decision to act upon
something that may not necessarily be planed.
For some artist, infusing spontaneity and improvisation adds up to the totality of the
work of art. Some artist subscribe to the idea of allowing chance in the process of producing the
work. For example, artist would want to capture the gloom brought about by an approaching
storm or the beauty of a meteor shower at night.
 During 1960’s art improvisation has taken form in the galleries around new york city.
Performance arts, dance, and visual arts were combined to create ne forms of artworks using a
new medium.
Appropriation
In the past, if an apprentice painter needs to hone his craft, he would be allowed to use
his master’s work to copy. It is as if the apprentice is trying to explore his pesonal application of
techniquesnto something he is more familiar with.
The problem arises when the appropriation artist would get bits and pieces from other
works and incorporate these elements into his own work.