Reviewer in Art Appreciation

The Contemporary Art

One of the developments during the time was the turn from the traditional notions of what art is from paintings
and sculptures to the more experimental formats. These included film, photography, video, performance, installations
and site specific works, and earth works. Even these formats tended to overlap, leading to interesting and dynamic, and
otherwise unheard of combinations of concepts, subjects and materials, techniques,

And methods of creation, experience, and even analysis. Compared to other periods, contemporary art is the
most socially aware and involved form of art. The subject matter of its work was one of the most pressing, heated and
even controversial issues of contemporary society.

Other Contemporary Art Movement

Neo-Pop Art - in the 1980s there was a renewed interest in poop art specifically to Andy Warhol's works and his
contemporaries. What made it different from pop art was it appropriated some of the ideas of Dada in which ready-
made materials were used for the art work. • Dada was a movement that was against the values of the bourgeois, the
colonial and even the national.

It was both anarchic as it was referencing anarchy- the war ensued because of the values the movement
despises. Also it does not only referenced popular culture, but criticized and evaluated it, often using popular cultural
icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson among many others. Some of the artists who are involved in the revival

Of pop art was Daniel Edwards, Keith Haring, Jeff Coons to name a few. Compared to their other predecessors,
they were more affront about their evaluations about the world through their works.

Photorealism - The resurgence of figurative art, where realistic depictions is a choice, is a proof how varied and
fragmented post modernism is. In photorealism, a painstaking attention to detail is aimed, without asserting an artist's
personal style. These drawings and paintings are so immaculate in their precision that it starts to look like it is a photo
without a direct reference to the artist who created it.

Two of the known photorealist artists are Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter.

Conceptualism - Other movements were formed and shaped by pop art, such as conceptualism .As oppose to
celebrating commodities as references to real life, conceptualism fought against the idea that art is a commodity. This
movement also brought to the fore issues brought by art installations such as museums and galleries where works are
peddled and circulated.

Some of the major conceptual artists are Jenry Holtzer, Damien Hirst and Ai Wei Wei. In the conceptual art, the
idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all
the planning and decisiona are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair (Le Witt, 1967)

Performance Art - Performance art is related to conceptual art, whose rosters of well known artists include the
likes of Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono Joseph Beuys. As a movement, it bagan in the 1060s and instead of being
concerned with entertaining its audience, the heart of the art work is the idea or message. Here, the audience maybe in
accomplice to the realization of the work.

Performance art maybe planned or spontaneous and done live or recorded. Since it is also durational in nature,
it is also considered as ephemeral works of art. An interesting proposition is that performance is not about the medium
or the format, rahter it is how specific context is made in which through engagement or interaction, questions, concerns
and conditions will be fleshed out.

Installation Art- Compared to traditional art formats, installation art is a kind of an immersive work where the
environment or the space which the viewer steps into or interacts with (going around installative art) is transformed or
altered. Usually, large scales, installation art makes use of a host of objects, materials, conditions and even light and
aural components.

Since these woks are commonly found on the public places, various people who have access to them have
formed the impression and perception of the artworks themselves. • These works operate under interesting
circumstances since they are unsunctioned and do not enjoy the invigilated environments of museums and galleries..

Earth Art - Sometimes considered as kind of spin-off installation art (or land art) is when the natural
environment or a specific site or space is transformed by artists. It is a kind of human intervention into a specific
landscape or terrain. Earth art is different from environmental art in a sense that it does not focus on the subject
(environmental issues)

But rather on landscape manipulation and the materials used, taken directly from the ground or vegetation
(rocks or twigs). Artists known for earth art are Robert Smithson, Richard Long, Andy Goldsworthy, Jeanne Claude,
Christo.

Street Art - The art movement is related to graffiti art as it is by-product of the rise of graffiti in the 1080s.
Artworks created are not into traditional in format but are informed by the illustrative, painterly and print techniques
and even a variety of media (even video projects). Some of the examples of this include murals, stenciled images,
stickers, and installations or installative sculptural objects usually out of common objects and techniques.

Since these woks are commonly found on the public places, various people who have access to them have
formed the impression and perception of the artworks themselves. • These works operate under interesting
circumstances since they are unsunctioned and do not enjoy the invigilated environments of museums and galleries..

Street artists also hold more traditional exhibitionary formats in the white cube. I it is in the open space, there
are no governing rules in its production and sometimes in the interaction. Known street artists are Michael Basquiat,
Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey, and Bankey. Bankey's popularity is evidenced by the creation of a film documentary that
spoke about him and his works.

The Twentieth Century Art

Realism - is a style of work focuses on the accuracy of details that depicts and somehow mirrors reality. There is
little room for imagination in this movement since emphasis is placed in observable traits that can concretize through
artworks. Realism was heavily influenced by Hellinistic Greek culture since most artworks during that period placed
emphasis on the human body.

• Realism as a modern movement in art veered away from traditional forms of art. In a way, it revolutionized themes
and techniques in paintings.. In addition, this movement also expanded and widened existing notions of what can be
considered as art. Since artist worked with in the context of revolutions and social change, artistic works began to depict
real life events.

• Idealistic concepts and images were replaced by real manifestations of society. There is a move to combine both art
and life in artistic works since the modern world were suitable for subjects of art. These movement also resexamined
existing belief systems and traditions.

Impressionism- The Impressionism movement started in France, which lead to a break from the tradition in
European painting. Impressionism is a style of painting that emerged in the mid to late 1800s. Impressionistic artists
incorporated scientific principles to achieve a more distinct representation of color.

• The distinct characteristic of this style is it allows the artist to emphasize the immense impression he has of a particular
event or scene. The said impression is communicated by the artist through his work and can be seen through the
brushstrokes, distinction of colors and the lights and shadows used by the artist.
Post Impressionism -It is an art movement that emerged in France, which is a result of both the influence and rejection
of impressionism. Most artists that belong to this movement started off as impressionists but later on saw the inherent
limitations and flaws of impressionism. This eventually led to the development of individual style that gave emphasis to
defining • From with the use of broken colors and short brush strokes.

• Some of the famous post impressionism artists include Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent Van
Gogh. Most of their works became the framework of the contemporary techniques and trends during the twentieth
century.

Neo-Impressionism -As an art movement, this period in art is considered as a response to impirical realism of
impressionism. Most painters who subscribed to such movement rely on a systematic and scientific techniques that
have a predetermined visual effects not only on the art work itself but also how the audience perceive the art.

• The leading figure in Neo-impressionism was Georges Seurat who recorded optical sensations on a more scientific
manner. His color theories paved the way for the technique called pointillism. This art technique. This art technique
basically utilizes discrete dots and dashes of pure color. These colors are believed to blend with the viewers perspective.

Art Nouveau - Between 1890 and 1919, countries from Europe and the United States witnessed the emergence
and flourishing of a new art style. This ornamental style of art was a break from the conservative historism, which was
the prevailing and dominant theme of most Western artworks. This ornamental style uses long and organic lines that are
concretely manifested in architecture, jewelry and glass design, among others.

• In most works, the defining characteristics of art nouveau is the asymmetrical line that is usually in the form of an
insect wings or flower stalks. The line is done in such a graceful and elegant manner that somehow evokes a certain
power to it.

Fauvism - This is a style of painting that emerged in France around the turn of the twentieth century. What
makes fauvists revolutionary is, they used pure and vibrant colors by applying straight from the pain tubes directly to the
canvas. This is done to produce a sense of explosion of colors in the canvas. The fauves, just like the Impressionists,
painted directly from nature.

• The difference lies with how the fauves have this strong and expressive reaction to how they portray their subjects.
Most fauvist works reject the conservative and traditional renderings of three-dimensional space. What artist did was
they introduced the promoted a picture space that is defined by the movement of color.

Cubism - Between 1907 and 1914, French artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque introduces a new visual arts
style called cubism. This style would later on have a huge influence on artists during the twentietn century. Cubism
highlighted the two-dimesional surface of the picture plane. Focusing on a flat surface was a rejection of the dominant
techniques like the use of perspective, foreshortening, and modeling

• In addition, one of the things that cubism rejected was the existing and prevailing notion that art should imitate
nature. Cubists emphasized that they are not obliged to copy texture, form color and space. They presented a new
depiction of reality that may appear fragmented objects for viewers.

Futurism - It is an early twentieth century art movement that began in Italy, which highlighted the speed,
energy, dynamism and power of machines..

• In addition, common themes for works in this movement are relentlessness and the fast pace of modern life. Later on,
the movement's influence branched out not only in Europe but also in Russia. The greatest impact of futurism is evident
in poetry in visual arts. Italian poet and editor Filipon Tommaso Marinetti coined the term "futurism” to reflect his
purpose of disregarding the traditional methods of the art

In the past. He believes that art should embrace change, innovation, creativity and originality.

Visual Arts Performance Art

 Visual arts Creations that fall under this category are those that appeal to the sense of sight and are mainly
visual in nature. Artist produce visual art driven by their desire to reproduce things that they have seen in the way that
they perceived them. (Collins and Riley, 1931). Visual arts is the kind of art form that the population is most likely more
exposed to, but its variations are so diverse-

They range from sculptures that you see in art galleries to the last movie you saw. Film Film refers to the art of putting
together successions of still images in order to create art illussion of movement. Film making focuses on its aesthetic,
cultural and social value and is considered as both in art and an industry.

Films can be created by using one or a combination of some or all these techniques, motion pictures, camera,
animation techniques. Computer generated imagery and more. Film making stimulates experiences or creates one that
is beyond the scope of our imagination as it aims to deliver ideas, feelings or beauty to its viewers.

• The art of filmmaking is so complex it has to take into account many important elements such as lighting, musical
score, visual effects, direction and more. That is why in many film festivals and awards such as the metro manila Film
Festival and Oscars, a long list of categories excellence in the art of filmmaking.

Performance Art Performance art is a live art and the artist's medium is mainly the human body which he or she
uses, but also employs other kind of art such as visual art, props, or sound. It ususally consists of four important
elements, time, where the performance took place, the performers or the performer's body, and a relationship between
the audience and the performer.

The fact that performance art is live makes it intangled, which means it can not be bought or traded as a commodity the
other art expressions. Poetry performance Poetry is an art form where the artists expresses his emotions not by using
paint, charcoal or camera, but expresses them through words. These words are carefully selected to exhibit clarity and
beauty and to stimulate strong emotions, musical and spatial values that go beyond its literal meaning to narrate,
emphasize, argue or convince.

These words combine with movements, tone, volume, and intensity of the delivery and to the artistic, value of the
poem. Some poets even make poems out of their emotions picked up from other works of art, which in turn produce
another work of art through poetry.

Dance is a series of movements that follows the rhythm of the music accompaniment. It has been an age old
debate whether dance can really be considered an art form, but here we primarily describes dance as a form of
expression. Dancing is a creative form that allows people to freely express their selves. Dancers are free to create their
own movements as long as they deem them graceful and beautiful.

Theatre uses live performance to present accounts of imaginary events before a live audience. Theatre art
performances usually follow a script, though they should not confused with literary arts. Much like in film making,
theatre also considers several elements such as acting, gesture, lighting, sound effects, musical score, scenery and props.

The combination of these elements is what gives the strongest impression on the audience and the script thus become
the minor element. Similar to performance art, since theatre is a live performance, the participation of the viewer is an
important element in the theatre arts. Some genres of theatre include drama, musical, tragedy, comedy and
improvisation.

Applied arts is incorporating elements of style and design to everyday items with the aim of increasing their
aesthetic value. Artists in this field bring beauty, charm and comfort into many things that are useful in everyday life.
(Collins and Riley, 1931) Industrial design, interior design, fashion design and graphic design are considered applied arts.
Applied is often compared to fine arts, where the latter is chiefly concerned on aesthetic value.

Through consideration of needs and careful choice of materials and techniques, artists are able to combine functionality
and style.

The Elements of the Auditory

Together with literature, music as an art form is classified as auditory art. However, some would argue that its under the
broad category of performance art. Music much like the visual arts, has its own building blocks. Perhaps one of the most
widespread forms of art, whose intersection in daily life is most perceptible is music.

Music is sound organized in a specific time. It is considered an implement to cultural activities, answering a
specific role or function. During the times when man has to hunt for food, music was used as a corral to herd animals, or
as an element of specific rituals or rites. Singing or dancing to music was also often included in opportunities for
members of society to gather and interact.

Some are adept with the skill and sense to produce music, while others consume it as listeners, audience and even
performers. Different demographics, groups and individuals may have specific preferences as to genre of music. To
establish preference, listeners take to its elements for its evaluation. Some of the common elements of music are the
following rhythm, dynamics, melody, harmony, timbre and texture.

Rhythm Often associated to the terms beat, meter and tempo. It is the pulse of the music. Beat is the basic unit
o music while tempo refers to its speed (beats/second). Beats can be organized into a recognizable recurrent pattern
which is called the meter.

• Classical terms are used to refer to variations in tempo, some of which are: Largo-slowly and broadly
• Andante- walking pace Moderato- at moderate speed Alegro- fast Vivace- lively
• Accelerando-gradually speeding up
• Rallentando- gardually slowing down .
• Allargando- getting slower, broadening Rubato-literally rubbed time rhythm is played freely for expressive effect
Dynamics the elements of music that refers to the loudness or quietness of music. Classical terms are used to
refer to the different levels pertaining to this: Pianissimo- very quiet Paino- quiet Mezzo-piano (mp) moderately quoiet

Forte (f) loud Fortissimo- (ff)- very loud When composers indicate an increase or decrease in loudness they use the
terms crescendo or decrescendo. Melody Refers to the linear presentation (horizontal) of pitch. By horizontal it means
that in musical notation it is read in succession from left to right. Pitch is the highness and lowness of musical sound.

Harmony If melody is horizontal, harmony is vertical. It arises when pitches are combined to form chords. When
several notes are simultaneously played, this refers to a chord. Harmony can be described in terms of its harshness,
dissonance, the harsh-sounding combination while consonance is the smooth sounding combination.

Timbre is often likened to the color of music. It is a quality that distinguishes a voice or an instrument from
another. Dependent on the technique, the timbre may give a certain tone or characteristics to music. Texture the
number of melodies, the type of layers and their relatedness in a composition is the texgture of music it may be:

It may be: Monophonic- single melodic line Polyphonic- tow or more melodic lines Homophonic- Main melody
accompanied by chords.

Music is the language of the soul

• When it is happy it makes you smile

• When it is sad it makes you cry
• When it is a hymn of praise it makes you feel holy When it is a love song it makes you feel in love
• When you are sick it makes you get well