Does it ever seem to you that people either love contemporary art or hate it? While this type of art doesn’t have to be your cup of tea, it won’t hurt to learn a bit about it. Who knows, you may even grow to love contemporary art once you know more about it.
Do You Know These 3 Facts About Contemporary Art?
Whether you know almost all there is to know about contemporary art or are just beginning to learn about it, you will probably find these three concepts interesting:
1. Many people have no clue what contemporary art is. Google search results reveal this. This art form is difficult to define, so Google Arts & Culture had top experts weigh in on its definition. One of those experts is Sarah Munro, Director of the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. She said,
“Art has been around since the dawn of time. It’s the stories we tell, it’s how we make sense of our world, and how we imagine new possibilities. Contemporary art is a part of that story, that journey.”
Read other experts’ definitions of ‘contemporary art’ here.
2. There’s a big difference between modern art and contemporary art. Plenty of folks don’t know this. Too many people use ‘contemporary art’ and ‘modern art’ interchangeably. These two types of art are very different.
First, modern art began being created in the 1860s, whereas contemporary art became a genre in the 1960s (different art historians have different perspectives on these dates).
“Beyond the time frames, there are conceptual and aesthetic differences between the two phases,“ wrote a contributor to Encyclopaedia Britannica. “A key distinction between modern and contemporary art was a shift in focus away from aesthetic beauty to the underlying concept of the work (conceptual art and performance art are good examples).”
3. Contemporary art is supposed to look odd. Of course, not every piece of contemporary art should look like a child could have created it, but many pieces do, and not by accident. Contemporary artists intentionally craft works of art that look simple and nonsensical in an effort to mess with our entire concept of what is beautiful and what should be considered art. What’s the Difference Between Modern and Contemporary Art? stated,
“A lot of contemporary art is interrogating our conception of ‘aesthetics’. Aesthetics is the philosophical enquiry into what makes something art. So when we look at a pile of bricks, or a urinal in an art gallery, the artists are actually trying to make us question whether or not their work is art, and if it is, what makes it so.”
What Do You Think About Contemporary Art?
Are you a fan of contemporary art? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts with us in the section below — we’d love to hear from you.
Read our most recent Segmation blog posts:
- 4 Ways to Incorporate Art Into Your Kids’ Summer
- Mobile App Game SegPlay Mobile Benefits the Brain
- Flowers Represented In Art History
Be an Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® Mobile (see more details here)
SegPlay® Mobile available for Amazon Fire, iPhone, iPad, Android