Contemporary art
Encyclopedia
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II
. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since World War II.
Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, with the advent of Modern and the advent of Postmodern
art forms, distinctions between what is generally regarded as the fine arts and the low arts
have started to fade, as contemporary high art continues to challenge these concepts by mixing with popular culture
.
Contemporary art is exhibited by commercial contemporary art galleries
, private collectors, corporations, publicly funded arts organizations, contemporary art museums or by artists themselves in artist-run space
s. Contemporary artists are supported by grants, awards and prizes as well as by direct sales of their work.
There are close relationships between publicly funded contemporary art organisations and the commercial sector. For instance, in Britain a handful of dealers represent the artists featured in leading publicly funded contemporary art museums.
Individual collectors can wield considerable influence. Charles Saatchi
dominated the contemporary art market in Britain during the 1980s and the 1990s; the subtitle of the 1999 book Young British Artists: The Saatchi Decade uses of the name of the private collector to define an entire decade of contemporary art production.
Corporations have attempted to integrate themselves into the contemporary art world
: exhibiting contemporary art within their premises, organising and sponsoring contemporary art awards and building up extensive collections of corporate art.
The institutions of art have been criticised for regulating what is designated as contemporary art. Outsider art
, for instance, is literally contemporary art, in that it is produced in the present day. However, it is not considered so because the artists are self-taught and are assumed to be working outside of an art historical context. Craft activities, such as textile design, are also excluded from the realm of contemporary art, despite large audiences for exhibitions. Attention is drawn to the way that craft objects must subscribe to particular values in order to be admitted. "A ceramic object that is intended as a subversive comment on the nature of beauty is more likely to fit the definition of contemporary art than one that is simply beautiful."
At any one time a particular place or group of artists can have a strong influence on globally produced contemporary art; for instance New York artists in the 1980s.
and Donald Kuspit
have suggested that skepticism, even rejection, is a legitimate and reasonable response to much contemporary art.
". "postmodern
" and now "conceptual" periods. The concept of avant-garde
may come into play in determining what art is taken notice of by galleries, museums, and collectors. Serious art is ultimately exceedingly difficult to distinguish definitively from art that falls short of that designation.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since World War II.
Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, with the advent of Modern and the advent of Postmodern
Postmodern art
Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath...
art forms, distinctions between what is generally regarded as the fine arts and the low arts
Low culture
Low culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
have started to fade, as contemporary high art continues to challenge these concepts by mixing with popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Institutions
Contemporary art gallery
A contemporary art gallery is a place where contemporary art is shown for exhibition and/or for sale. The term "art gallery" is commonly used to mean art museum , the rooms displaying art in any museum, or in the original sense, of any large or long room.-Identity, function and locality:A...
, private collectors, corporations, publicly funded arts organizations, contemporary art museums or by artists themselves in artist-run space
Artist-run space
An artist-run space is a gallery space run by artists, thus circumventing the structures of public and private galleries.Artist-run spaces have become realised as an important factor in urban regeneration...
s. Contemporary artists are supported by grants, awards and prizes as well as by direct sales of their work.
There are close relationships between publicly funded contemporary art organisations and the commercial sector. For instance, in Britain a handful of dealers represent the artists featured in leading publicly funded contemporary art museums.
Individual collectors can wield considerable influence. Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
dominated the contemporary art market in Britain during the 1980s and the 1990s; the subtitle of the 1999 book Young British Artists: The Saatchi Decade uses of the name of the private collector to define an entire decade of contemporary art production.
Corporations have attempted to integrate themselves into the contemporary art world
Art world
The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...
: exhibiting contemporary art within their premises, organising and sponsoring contemporary art awards and building up extensive collections of corporate art.
The institutions of art have been criticised for regulating what is designated as contemporary art. Outsider art
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
, for instance, is literally contemporary art, in that it is produced in the present day. However, it is not considered so because the artists are self-taught and are assumed to be working outside of an art historical context. Craft activities, such as textile design, are also excluded from the realm of contemporary art, despite large audiences for exhibitions. Attention is drawn to the way that craft objects must subscribe to particular values in order to be admitted. "A ceramic object that is intended as a subversive comment on the nature of beauty is more likely to fit the definition of contemporary art than one that is simply beautiful."
At any one time a particular place or group of artists can have a strong influence on globally produced contemporary art; for instance New York artists in the 1980s.
Public attitudes
Contemporary art can sometimes seem at odds with a public that does not feel that art and its institutions share its values. In Britain, in the 1990s, contemporary art became a part of popular culture, with artists becoming stars, but this did not lead to a hoped-for "cultural utopia". Some critics like Julian SpaldingJulian Spalding
Julian Spalding is a British art critic, writer, broadcaster and former curator. Considered to be a controverial maverick and outspoken critic of the artworld, he's been a regulator contributor to arts, news and current affairs programmes on radio and TV.Spalding grew up on a council estate in St...
and Donald Kuspit
Donald Kuspit
Donald Kuspit is an American art critic, poet, and Distinguished Professor of art history and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and professor of art history at the School of Visual Arts. Kuspit is one of America's most distinguished art critics. He was formerly the A....
have suggested that skepticism, even rejection, is a legitimate and reasonable response to much contemporary art.
Concerns
A common concern since the early part of the 20th century is the question of what constitutes art. This concern can be seen running through the "modernModern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
". "postmodern
Postmodern art
Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath...
" and now "conceptual" periods. The concept of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
may come into play in determining what art is taken notice of by galleries, museums, and collectors. Serious art is ultimately exceedingly difficult to distinguish definitively from art that falls short of that designation.
Prizes
Some competitions, awards and prizes in contemporary art are- Emerging Artist Award awarded by The Aldrich Contemporary Art MuseumThe Aldrich Contemporary Art MuseumThe Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA. The Aldrich has no permanent collection. It is one of the United States's leading contemporary art galleries and special exhibition spaces . The museum is an international leader in museum education .The Aldrich was...
- Hugo Boss PrizeHugo Boss PrizeThe Hugo Boss Prize is awarded every other year to an artist working in any medium, anywhere in the world. Since its establishment in 1996, it has distinguished itself from other art awards because it has no restrictions on nationality or age...
awarded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim MuseumThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions... - Factor Prize in Southern Art
- Turner PrizeTurner PrizeThe Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
for British artists under 50 - Jindřich Chalupecký AwardJindřich Chalupecký AwardThe Jindřich Chalupecký Award is a prize awarded annually to young visual artists. Candidates must be Czech citizens aged less than 35 years.-History:The prize was established in 1990 by Václav Havel, Jiří Kolář and Theodor Pištěk...
for Czech artists under 35 http://www.jchalupecky.cz/home_en.html - Participation in the Whitney BiennialWhitney BiennialThe Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
- Vincent AwardVincent AwardThe Vincent Award is awarded every two years to a European artist that judges believe "will have significant, enduring impact on contemporary art."...
, The Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe, founded by The Broere Charitable Foundation and hosted by Stedelijk MuseumStedelijk MuseumFounded in 1874, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for classic modern and contemporary art in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It has been housed on the Paulus Potterstraat, next to Museum Square Museumplein and to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam Zuid...
. - Marcel Duchamp PrizeMarcel Duchamp PrizeThe Marcel Duchamp Prize is an annual award given to a young artist. The winner receives €35,000 personally and up to €30,000 in order to produce an exhibition of their work in the Modern Art museum...
awarded by ADIAF and Centre Pompidou. - The Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramists, awarded by the Canadian Clay and Glass GalleryCanadian Clay and Glass GalleryThe Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is a public art gallery located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The CCGG is a national gallery exhibiting Canadian silica artwork, including ceramic, glass and enamel work...
- Ricard PrizeRicard PrizeThe Ricard Prize was founded in 1999 and in 2006 its name changed to Prix Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard.The prize is awarded each year during the Parisian art fair FIAC by a committee of French collectors to an artist under 40 years old featured in an annual group...
for a French artist under 40. - Deste PrizeDeste FoundationDeste Foundation or Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art is an arts foundation in Athens, Greece. Housing the massive collection of Greek businessman Dakis Joannou, it organizes exhibitions by emerging and established international contemporary artists...
for young Greek artists, held every two years; funded by Dakis JoannouDakis JoannouDakis Joannou born 1941 is a Greek Cypriot industrialist and art collector based in Greece. He owns hotels and a construction business and has been a major international distributor of Coca-Cola "across 27 countries, from Greece to Switzerland to Russia to Nigeria."-Life and career:Joannou is...
. - John Moore’s Painting PrizeJohn Moore’s Painting PrizeThe John Moores Painting Prize is a biennial award to the best contemporary painting, submission is open to the public. The prize is named for Sir John Moores, noted philanthropist, who established the award in 1957...
History
This table lists art movements by decade. It should not be assumed to be conclusive.1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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See also
- Anti-artAnti-artAnti-art is a loosely-used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art...
and Anti-anti-artAnti-anti-artAnti-anti-art is a stance proposed by the Stuckists in their manifestos outlining their art. In it, they take a particularly strong position in opposition to what is known as "anti-art".... - Artistic meritArtistic meritArtistic merit is a term that is used in relation to cultural products when referring to the judgment of their perceived quality or value as works of art....
- Burmese contemporary artBurmese contemporary artBurma is a country in Southeast Asia which has endured isolation for the last four decades. It is also a country with deep rooted Buddhist beliefs. The contemporary art scene in the country reflects these facts, and the art is often related to Buddhism and the difficult socio-political situation...
- Classificatory disputes about artClassificatory disputes about artArt historians and philosophers of art have long had classificatory disputes about art regarding whether a particular cultural form or piece of work should be classified as art. Disputes about what does and does not count as art continue to occur today....
- List of contemporary art museums
- List of contemporary artists
- Medium specificityMedium specificityMedium specificity is a consideration in aesthetics and art criticism. It is most closely associated with modernism, but it predates it. According to Clement Greenberg, who helped popularize the term, medium specificity holds that "the unique and proper area of competence" for a form of art...
- MyartspaceMyartspaceMyartspace is a social network for artists. As of 2008 the site hosts over 500,000 images of contemporary art and contains a large collection of interviews with emerging artists.-Art competitions and exhibits:...
- Plop artPlop artPlop art is a pejorative slang term for public art made for government or corporate plazas, spaces in front of office buildings, skyscraper atriums, parks, and other public venues...
- Reductive artReductive artReductive art is a term to describe an artistic style or an aesthetic, rather than an art movement. Movements and other terms associated with reductive art include Minimal art, ABC art, anti-illusionism, cool art, rejective art , Bauhaus aesthetic, work that emphasizes clarity, simplification,...
- TattooTattooA tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
Further reading
- Kristine StilesKristine StilesKristine Stilesis an art historian specializing in global contemporary art. She has written extensively on performance art as well as on the themes of destruction, violence, and trauma in art. Stiles earned a B.A. in Art History from San Jose State University in California, and an M.A. and Ph.D...
and Peter Howard Selz, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art, A Sourcebook of Artists's Writings (1996), ISBN 0520202511