GE 100 – AA Art Appreciation

Gumonit, Mildred Ann E. Assignment no. 6 BSBA Marketing Management

Dr. Noel F. Antijendra December 2, 2020

Lesson 9
Caught in Between: Modern and Contemporary Art

Defining the Contemporary

The term "contemporary” seems simple and straightforward enough to define but the complexity
of defining the term is attributed to the fact that people have dissenting views on the
interpretation of the present" of "today," or what the 'now' means.

There are museums that fall under an earlier period for example:
-The Institute of Contemporary Art in London which was founded in 1947 includes in its
mandate “the promotion of art that came to be from that year onwards."
-For the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, its starting point is dated at 1977
-While the TATE framed contemporaneity in a ten-year rolling basis and was placed under the
bounds of their Museum of Contemporary Art

Another source of confusion is the fact that in the colloquial "modern" and "contemporary" are
considered synonymous. however, when these terms are used in the context of art, they refer to
two different (but consecutive) periods.

Modern art
-digression of artists away from past conventions and traditions and towards freedom
-not only reflected in its art, but also way people lived and conducted themselves, the social
issues that were relevant, fashion, music and the wide range of images and activities they were
engaged in
-it saw the heavy mass production of goods, encouraging environment by industrialization, new
technology, urbanization, and rise of commercially driven culture
-Artists were committed to developing a language of their own-original but representative where
they drew the world but in his own terms. That’s why within this period grew a vast number of
different movements
This period can be traced from the 1970s to the present. There is a reason behind this cutoff.
The cutoff was hinged on two reasons:
1. The 1970s saw the emergence of "postmodernism." The affix was a clue that whatever
followed was segregated from its precursor
2. The 1970s saw the decline of the clearer identified artistic movements

Social Context: In Between Modern and Contemporary Art

Reaping the benefits and drawbacks of the dramatic changes that occurred at the beginning of the
twentieth century, the social, political and cultural context continued to provoke the artist to
create.
What compelled artists' works were not prevailing medium, technique, or style; rather, it was the
themes and concerns they addressed. And the conversation was no longer limited to geographic
locales, but became increasingly a global conversation.
Contemporary art was heavily driven by ideas and theories, and the even the blurring of notions
of what is and can be considered as "art" with the involvement of television, photography,
cinema, digital technology, performance, and even objects of the everyday.

Art movements in between the succession of modern and contemporary art

Abstract expressionism (early 1940s to mid-1960s)

-basic tenets of abstraction and combined with it with gestural techniques, mark-making, and a
rugged spontaneity in its visual articulation.

Two major styles emerged from this:

 Action painting
-underscored the process of creation in that it showed the physicality, direction and most often,
the spontaneity of the actions that made the drips and strokes possible.
  Color fields
-emphasized the emotional power of colors. From the vivid demarcations to the more toned-
down transitions, these bands of color were akin to the effect of landscapes

Optical Art or “op art” (early 1960s onward)

-Creating energy was at the center of it
-relied on creating an illusion to inform the experience of the artwork using color pattern, and
other perspective tricks
-making it seem like a section was protruding out or receded in the background, to creating
movement, works under this movement showed a certain kind of dynamism

Kinetic Art (early 1950s onward)

-actual movement in the works
-Harnessing the current and direction of the wind, components of the artwork which was
predominantly sculptural.
-most were mobiles and even motor-driven machines, was an example of how art and technology
can be brought together

Gutai (1950s-1970s)
-means embodiment or concreteness
-goal was not only to explore the materiality of the implements used in the performance, but also
to hold a deeper desire to make sense of the relationship that is struck between the body, the
movements, and the spirit of their interaction during the process of creation.
-straddled between multiple platforms from performance, theatrical events, installation, and even
painting
-the founder of the Gutai Art Association was Yoshihara Jiro in 1952
-one the most important examples of this is "Challenge to the Mud" (1955) by Kazuo Shiraga
-he utilized his body, writhing in a pile of mud. The shapes formed, and the state of the mud
were left as is after his performance, and was kept as part of the exhibition as a kind of action
painting
Minimalism (early 1960s)
- seen as an extreme type of abstraction that favored geometric shapes, color fields, and the use
of objects and materials that had an "industrial" the sparse.
-Painters and sculptors avoided overt symbolism and emotional content, but instead called
attention to the materiality of the works

Pop art (1950s but found its footing in the 1960s)

-drew inspiration, sources, and even materials from commercial culture, making it one of the
most identifiable and relatable movements in art history.
-they turned to commodities designed and made for the masses, particularly drawing inspiration
and material from ads, packaging. Comic books, movies and movie posters, and pop music.
-The aim was to also elevate popular culture as something at par with fine art
-use of very banal and "low" objects and subject matters and lacks of elevated aura

Postmodernism
-most pertinent movement that solidified the move to contemporary art
-artist's creativity was in its most free with an “anything goes” disposition artworks fell within
the broad spectrum of the humorous to controversial works that challenged not only taste but
also
-there were attempts to overturn the notion that all progress was positive, the hierarchy of races,
and that art has a definitive goal

Contemporary Art
-it overlaps with the acceptance and practice of these movements and they were embedded in a
social order that was in fact somewhat "disordered."
-turn from the traditional notions of what art is: from paintings and sculptures to the more
experimental formats like film, photography, video, performance, installations and site-specific
works, and earth works
-most socially aware and involved form of art
-subject matter was one of the most pressing, heated, and even controversial issues of
contemporary society
 Other Contemporary Art Movements

Neo-Pop Art
-renewed interest in pop art specifically to Andy Warhol's works and his contemporaries.
-different from pop art and where taken from of Dada’s first idea in which ready-made materials
were used for the artwork
-Dada was a movement that was very much 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 abhors and despises.
-does not only referenced popular culture, but more importantly, criticized and evaluated it,
-often using popular cultural icons

Photorealism
-resurgence of figurative art, where realistic depictions is a choice, is a proof how varied and
fragmented postmodernism is. I
-painstaking attention to detail is aimed, without asserting an artist's personal style
-in their precision it starts to look like it is a photo without a direct reference to the artist who
created it

Conceptualism
-informed and shaped by pop art
-fought against the idea that art is a commodity
-idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.
-the artists’ planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair

Performance Art
-related to conceptual art
-here, the audience may even be an accomplice to the realization of the work.
-may be planned or spontaneous and done live or recorded
-considered as ephemeral works of art.
-not about the medium or the format; rather, it is how a specific context is made in which
through engagement or interaction, questions, concerns, and conditions will be fleshed out

Installation Art
-work where the environment or the space in which the viewer steps into or interacts with is
transformed or altered.
-Usually large-scale
-used of a host of objects, materials, conditions, and even light and aural components.
-can be site-specific and may be temporary or ephemeral in nature.
Example of a public installation art is the "Cadillac Ranch," comprised of 10 Cadillacs of
different models ranging from 1949 to 1964.

Earth Art (Land Art)

-kind or a spin-off of in installation art
-is when the natural environment or a specific site or space is transformed by artists
-different from environmental art in the sense that it does not focus on the subject but rather on
landscape manipulation and the materials used, taken directly from the ground or vegetation.

Street Art
- related to graffiti art as it is a by-product of the rise of graffiti in the 1980s.
- not traditional in format but are informed by the illustrative, painterly, and print techniques and
even a variety of media (even video projections)
-mostly found in public sphere

Some of the examples of this include:

murals, stenciled images, stickers, and installations or installative/sculptural objects usually out
of common objects and techniques.
 Let's Wrap It Up
Some of the artists and movements discussed are examples of the rich array of works produced
and are still being produced today. New artists with their own creative imagination and ways of
producing art are changing the landscape once again. Art students will be confronted with even
more diverse movements that attempt to come into terms with himself, society, and the world we
live in.