CAUGHT IN BETWEEN: MODERM AND CONTEMPORARY ART

• Modernism and modern art


  Started in the Industrial Revolution, alongside vast changes in society like manufacturing, transportation, and technology. Art felt the need to adapt with the new worldly trends.
• Modern Art era


  Started between the 1860's up to the late 1970's, lasting for more than a century. Defied the norms of traditional society, particularly popular in Western Europe and North America and eventually spreading to the whole world.
• In between the century of Modernism, art at this time was greatly influenced by the modern life and new theories about art, bringing forth many art movements that emerged.
• Modern Art


  Innovative, non-traditional, and very modern.
• Edouard Manet


  Father of Modern Art, believed to be the first modern artist. His piece strayed away from being realistic and three-dimensional.
• Fauvism


  • A joyful style of painting known for its use of bold colors, developed in France at the beginning of the 20th Century by Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. The artists were known as "Les Fauves" (the wild beasts).
  • Les Fauves believed that colors should be used at its highest pitch to express the feeling the artist has for its piece.
• Surrealism


  • An art movement inspired by scientific research, Freudian psychology and dream interpretation. It portrays reality and intensity of the subconscious mind. Surrealists feasted on the unconscious, believing that Freud's theory on dreams, ego, and superego opened doors to the authentic self and clearer reality. Emphasizes on mysterious, marvelous, mythological, and irrational in an effort to make art ambiguous and strange.
• Cubism


  • The most influential art style of the 20th century. Cubists try to show all sides of an object, reducing recognizable images to geometric forms, shows objects from several positions at one time, and often makes opaque forms transparent. Invented around 1907 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques in Paris. It was the first abstract art of the modern era.
• Dadaism


  • Attacked the established values in art. Declared absurdity in all its convention and destroyed the notion of art as well. The important thing for Dadaist is not the actual artwork itself, but the message and statement that they are making with it.
• The Contemporary Art Era started on 1970's onwards. The shift from the previous era, Modern Era, is because of two reasons: a.) the emergence of "postmodernism" b.) the decline of the clearer identified artistic movement.
• Contemporary Art


  "Art made by the artists of today." Heavily driven by ideas and theories. The idea is the main intention. It is not restricted to individual experience but it is reflective of the world we live in. Art expanded to more experimental ventures with new formats such as film, photography, video performance, installations, etc. The most socially aware and most involved in all forms of art.
• Abstract Expressionism


  • Took the concepts of abstraction and combined it with gesture techniques, mark-making, and spontaneity in visual articulation. Emphasized the power of colors. Famous painters of this style: Clyfford Still, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko.
• OP/Optical Art


  • Relied on creating an illusion to inform the experience of the artwork, making it seem like the subject is protruding out of the background to create movement. Famous artists: Victor Vasarely, Bridgit Riley, Peter Sedgley, Richard Anuszkiewiscz, Yaavcom Agam, Jesus Soto, Guenther Uecker, Enrico Castellani, Carlos Cruz-Diez.
• Kinetic Art


  • Presence of actual movement in artworks. Famous artists: Naum Gabo, Alexander Calder, Jean Tinguely, Bridge Riley, Nicolas Schoffer, Theo Jansen.
• Gutai


  • Japanese origin, multiplatforms like performance, theatrical events, installations, and even painting. Gutai = individuality and openness to the concrete. The goal was to explore the materiality of the implements used in performance, and to make sense of the relationship between the body, the movements, and the spirit of their interaction during the process of creation.
• Minimalism


  • Extreme type of abstraction that favored geometric shapes, color fields, and the use of objects and materials that had an industrial feel. Emphasizes the materiality of the work. Famous artists: Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Sol LeWitt, Dan Andre, Donald Judd.
• Pop Art


  • Draws inspiration from pop media, such as commercial culture. One of the most known and identifiable and relatable movements in art history. The aim was to elevate popular culture as something at par with fine art. Famous artists: Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldeburg, Richard Hamilton, Tom Wesselman, Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein.
• Postmodernism


  • The most prominent movement that solidified the contemporary era. The formalization of the old techniques and views of modernism and claiming for better arts for the 20th century. Shifting of belief systems. Included conceptual art, neo-expressionism, feminist art, etc.
• Neo-Pop Art


  In the 1980s, there was a renewed interest in pop art specially to Andy Warhol's works and his contemporaries. What made it different from pop art was that it appropriated some of the first ideas of Dada in which ready-made materials were used for the artwork.
• Contemporary Art


  The most socially aware and involved form of art. The subject matter of its works was one of the most pressing, heated and even controversial issues of contemporary society.
• 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 a photo without a direct reference to the artist who created it.
• Conceptualism


  The idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist used conceptualized form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and execution is a perfunctory affair.
• Performance Art


  May be planned or spontaneous and done live or recorded. An interesting proposition is the performance is not about the medium or the format; rather, it is how a specific context is made is which through engagement or interaction, questions, concerns, and conditions will be fleshed out.
• 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 transformed or altered. Usually large-scale, installation art makes use of a host objects, materials, conditions and even light and aural components.
• Earth Art


  Is different from environmental art in a sense that does not focus on the subject (environmental issue or concerns) but rather on landscapes manipulation and the materials used, taken directly from the ground or vegetation (rocks or twigs).
• Street Art


  This art movement is related to graffiti art as it is a by-product of the rise of graffiti in the 1980s. These works are most commonly found in the public sphere, various people who have access to them have formed the impression and perception of the artworks themselves. Examples include murals, stenciled images, stickers, and installation or installative/sculptural objects usually out of common objects and techniques.