LESSON 9

CAUGHT IN BETWEEN : MODERN

AND CONTEMPORARY ART
 What is Modern Art?
• Period that began in the 1880’s and lasted until 1960’s.
• Focused on surrealism rather than depicted life as perceived by the
church or influential in society.
• Denotes the styles and philosophy of the art produced during that era.
• The devotion of artist to a strict narrative was often illustrated in their
figurative works.
• Artist were committed to developing a language of their own original but
representative.
• It tends to find the pure idea of art.
 What is Contemporary Art?
• Developed after the 1960’s and still emerging.
• “ present” “today” or “now”.
• Concerned about the purity in art.
• It was the idea that was more important than its visual
articulation.
• It turns the traditional paintings and sculptures to more
experimental formats
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
1.) ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM (early 1940’s to mid-
1960’s)
 Basic tenets of abstraction and combined it with gestural techniques,
mark making, and a rugged spontaneity in its visual articulation.
 Started in New York, hence also called New York School.
 2 Major Styles emerged
ACTION PAINTING COLOR FIELDS
Showed physicality, Emphasized the emotional
direction and most often power of colors.
the spontaneity of the From vivid demarcations
actions that made drips to more toned- down
and strokes possible transitions.
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
2.) OPTICAL ART (early 1960 onwards)
 relied on creating illusion using colors, patterns, and
other perspective tricks.
Showed a ceratain kind of dynamism
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
3.) KINETIC ART ( 1950’s onward)
 harnessing the current and direction of wind
Predominantly sculptural, most were mobiles and even
motor-drive machines.
Example of how art and technology can be brought
together
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
4.) GUTAI (1950’s to 1970s)
 means embodiment and 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 between
the body, movements, and the spirit of their interaction
during the process of creation.
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
5.) MINIMALISM (early 1960s)
 seen as an extreme type of abstraction that favoured
geometric shapes, color fields, and use of materials that
had an industrial the sparse.
Avoided overt symbolism and emotional content but
instead called attention to the materiality of the works.
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
6.) POP ART (1950s)
Drew inspiration, sources, and even material from
commercial culture, making it one of the most identifiable
and relatable movement in art history.
They turned to commodities designed and made for
masses.
SEVERAL MOVEMENTS YHAT WERE CAUGHT IN
BETWEEN THE SUCCESSION OF MODERN
CONTEMPORARY ART.
7.) POSTMODERNISM (1970S)
 most pertinent movement that solidified the move to
contemporary art
Included conceptual art, ne –expressionism , feminist art.
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
1. NEO-POP ART
• In the 1980’s Andy Warhol renewed an interest in pop art,
but it’s different from neo-pop art because of the first
ideas of ‘Dada’ in which ready made materials were used.
• Dada is a movement that was very much against values of
the bourgeois the colonial and even the National. It was
both anarchic, the war ensued because of the values,
movements abhors or despises.
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
2. PHOTOREALISM
• Painstaking attention to detail is aimed, without asserting
the artist personal style.
• Drawings and paintings are so immaculate in their
precision that starts to look like it is photo without a
direct reference to the artist who created it.
• Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter – photorealist artists
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
3. CONCEPTUALISM
• Informed and shaped by pop art
• Fought against the idea that art is ‘commodity’.
• Brought about by art institutions such as museums and
galleries where works are peddled and circulated.
• Jenny Holzer, Damien Hirst, Ai Wei Wei- conceptual artists
 OTHERCONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
4. PERFORMANCE ART
• Related to conceptual art, and began in the 1960’s
• Most concerned about the heart of artwork rather than with
entertaining the audience
• May be planned /spontaneous or live/recorded, it is durational
in nature and considered as ephemeral works of art.
• Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, and Joseph Beuys- rosters of well-
known artists
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
5. INSTALLATION ART
• Is a kind of immersive works
• Large-scale ,installation art makes use of a host of objects,
materials, conditions, and even light and aural
components.
• Considered site-specific and may be temporary or
ephemeral in nature.
• Allan Kaprow, Yayoi Kusama, and Dale Chihuly.-
installation artists
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
6. EARTH ART/LAND ART
• Considered as a kind or spin-off of installation
• It is kind of human intervention into a specific landscape or terrain
• It is different from environmental art in a 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.
• Robert Smithson, Christo, Richard Long, Andy Goldsworthy ,and
Jeanne-Claude.
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY ART
MOVEMENTS
7. STREET ART
• It is by-product of the rise of graffiti in the 1980’s
• Artworks created are not traditional in format but are informed by the
illustrative, painterly and print techniques and even a variety of media.
• Most commonly found in the public sphere, various people who have
access to them have formed the impression and perception of the
artworks themselves.
• This art is unsanctioned and do not enjoy the invigilated environments
of museums and galleries.