Content and Context

of
Contemporary Arts
Picao, Messiah Noahbelle
Delabajan, Gerald
Rueca, Rawil
Bajas, Mariella
 Content
- A work of art refers to what is being depicted
and might be helpful in deriving a basic
meaning.
- It appears in the visual arts in several forms ,
all of which may be figurative (realistic) or
abstract (distorted). Among them are portraits,
landscapes, still-lifes, genre art, and narrative
art.
 Types of Content

Content in art takes the form of

portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, genre
art, and narrative art.
 A PORTRAIT is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other
artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its
expression are predominant. The intent is to display the
likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.

• Portrait
 Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the
depiction in art of landscapes—natural scenery such as
mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially
where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements
arranged into a coherent composition.

In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can

still form an important part of the work.
• Landscape
 A Still Life (plural still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly
inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects that may
be either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, or shells)
or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes,
and so on).

Early still-life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained

religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted.

• Still-life
 Genre Art is the pictorial representation in any of various
media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets,
domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street
scenes.

Such representations (also called genre works, genre scenes ,

or genre views) may be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by
the artist.
• Genre
 Narrative Art is an art that tells a story, either as a moment in an
ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some
of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told
stories with pictures.

However, without some knowledge of the story being told, it is

very hard to read ancient pictures because they are not organized in
a systematic way like words on a page, but rather can unfold in
many different directions at once.
• Narrative
 Religion as a Theme

Christian, Buddhist, and Islamic artistic

traditions have used elements of symbolism,
narrative, ritual, iconoclasm, and authorship
to express the tenets of their beliefs
throughout history.
 Christian Art is typically produced in order to illustrate the various
principles and narratives of the religion. Throughout time, most
Christian sects have used art to some extent, though there have
been definite periods of iconoclasm within the history of the religion.
Most Christian art alludes to themes that are familiar to a practicing
Christian, such as the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus or the
crucifixion.

While Christianity is a monotheistic religion, Christians believe God

is triune, meaning that the three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit) are in one union in which each figure is also wholly
God. Most Christian art focuses on Jesus, particularly at the
Crucifixion or stories from the Bible, while the Holy Spirit is often
depicted as a dove or tongue of fire. God as the Father of Jesus is
rarely visually depicted.
 Buddhist Art originated on the Indian subcontinent following the
historical life of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Gautama
Buddha, in the sixth to fifth century BCE, evolving via contact with
other cultures as it spread throughout Asia and the world. Buddhist
art followed believers as the dharma spread, adapted, and
evolved in each new host country.

It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern

Asia to form the Northern branch of Buddhist art and to the east as
far as Southeast Asia to form the Southern branch of Buddhist art.

Also it is typically comprised of devotional works depicting

mythology and narratives associated with the Buddha and
bodhisattvas . There is great variation in the types of Buddhist art
as the religion is so vast. Some Buddhist art contains animist
themes, meaning the depiction of natural elements (animals,
nature, earth) as spiritual entities.
 Islamic Art prohibits representational images in religious art, and
evolved to be comprised mainly of calligraphic decorations and
repetitive geometric patterns. Intended to express the ideals of order
and of nature, these geometric patterns are used to adorn religious
architecture, carpets, manuscripts, and other art objects.

Sacred Islamic art reflects a worldview focused on spiritual essence

as opposed to physical form. Calligraphy is the most highly regarded
and most fundamental element of Islamic art. The employment of
calligraphy as ornament had a definite aesthetic appeal but often
also included an underlying talismanic component.

Geometric patterns make up one of the three non-figurative types

of decoration in Islamic art, which also includes calligraphy and
vegetal patterns. Abstract designs not only adorn the surfaces of
monumental Islamic architecture but also function as the major
decorative element on a vast array of objects of all types.
Christian Buddhist

Islamic
 Context
Context consists of all of the things about the artwork that might
have influenced the artwork or the maker (artist). These would include
when the work was made; where it was made (both culturally and
geographically); why it was made; and possibly some other details or
information.
Contextualism looking at the cultural context of an artwork can
deepen and/or improve our understanding of an artwork, but it may or
may not change our first impressions; and it doesn’t really have an effect
on formal analysis. With some additional contextual information about
the time, the culture, and the maker/artist of an artwork, we can
become more informed. All artworks exist in a context more accurately,
all artworks exist in multiple contexts.
 Historical Context Time is the most basic and first context we
consider. When we say, “When in time?” the question is also
related to where in time and has considerations related to context.

Art and Artist Context The context for the artist or creator includes:

• Their culture, their worldview (where they grew up; family

values; etc.)
• Their place; geography (e.g., city, rural, home, traveling)
• Their “worldview,”religion, beliefs, etc.
 Viewer Context
Context also has to do with the viewer. For example: When a
person in Paris in the 1890s looked at a Van Gogh painting, how
that painting looked and felt and seemed to her was very different
from an American viewer looking at the same painting today.
When thinking about a viewer’s context, it’s useful to think about
the following, since all of them can affect how person sees or
responds to an artwork:

• Time
• Culture
• Nationality
• Gender
Philippine
Contemporary Arts,
Traditional Arts ,
Contemporary Arts
Papa,Vehra Edverly
Lerio,Zedrex
Quilario,Claire Janine
Refugido,Carlos Miguel
Contemporary Arts,
Traditional Arts
of the Philippines
Ramos,Natha
n
Gallano,Rovie
Petras,Claribe
l
Antolin
 Traditional Art consisted of many art forms that were relevant
to the past. Some of these art forms include paintings, sculptures,
printmaking, mosaics and drawings. Traditional art was
prominently created using cultural perspectives and ideas, this
means that different cultures used different materials and
processes to display their own cultural ideas.

For example, "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo,

expresses his view of religion and beliefs. And, Raphael's self
portrait showed realism, a common traditional technique.
 Examples of Traditional Arts

Soil Painting Oil Painting

Anthropomorphic Pottery Pottery: Neolithic

Weaving
Poetry: Ambahan Poetry: Pabasa ng pasyon

Dance: Cordillera Dance: Folklore

 Contemporary art is much more focused on social/society
focused. They usually reflect or comment on modern society using
new techniques and materials, such as videos/technology.
Contemporary art can be completely new, or influenced by past
artworks/artists.

An example of contemporary artworks that were influence by

previous artists/artworks are appropriation artworks, which use old
images/subjects to create a new artwork that portrays a new
perspective.
Examples of Philippine
Contemporary Arts
 Ernest Concepcion (1977-present). Concepcion is a studio artist
whose work experiments with intense emotion, deconstructing images in
his paintings, sculptures, and installations.

He creates art like recording a music album, where each painting is

from a series of nine. Concepcion describes it as producing an old
favorite, a classic, sleeper hit and one piece he doesn’t really like but
keeps coming back to.
Heartache
 Ronald Ventura (1973-present) Ventura is a
contemporary artist from Manila, with a Bachelor’s degree
of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas.
He initially taught in the same school after graduating but
found his true calling as a visual artist after his first solo
exhibition at the Drawing Room in Makati in 2000.

OMG Christ
 Leeroy New (1986-present) Initially trained as a sculptor, Leeroy’s
work blends theatre, fashion, film, production design, and public art.
He graduated from the prestigious Philippine High School for the
Arts, before continuing his Fine Arts degree at the University of the
Philippines.

He has received artist residences in Singapore and Australia and

was awarded the 13 Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines in 2014. His large-scale public art uses common objects
and materials found in everyday environments.

Gray Ground
 This Baguio-born artist is son to legendary filmmaker Kidlat
Tahimik and German artist Katrin de Guia, and was mentored by
famous Baguio artists BenCab and Santiago Bose. Kawayan’s art
contemplates the Philippines’ changing urban culture.

He illogically arranges texts and icons to compose a painting,

depicting the human form in new ways. His work draws from
popular culture, the media and mass consumerism. He also creates
sculptures and massive art installations – such as his Bomba Series -
and bling's out discarded Jukeboxes.
Isla Hubad