Contemporary art, Modern art and Traditional art

Contemporary Art

Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the
21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and
technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods,
concepts, and subjects that continue the challenging of boundaries that was already well
underway in the 20th century. Diverse and eclectic, contemporary art as a whole is distinguished
by the very lack of a uniform, organizing principle, ideology, or "-ism". Contemporary art is part
of a cultural dialogue that concerns larger contextual frameworks such as personal and cultural
identity, family, community, and nationality.

History: Major movements and artist

POP A RT
Intended as a reaction to preceding modern art movement, contemporary art is thought to have
begun on the heels of Pop Art. Pop Art was pioneered by artists like Andy Warhol and Roy
Lichtenstein, and was defined by an interest in portraying mass culture. It lasted roughly from
the 1950s through the 1970s. And thanks to artists like Jeff Koons, it was reborn as Neo-Pop Art
in the 1980s.

PHO TO REALIS M
Much like artists working in the Pop Art style sought to artistically reproduce objects, those
involved with Photorealism aimed to create hyper realistic drawings and paintings. Photo realists
often worked from photographs, which enabled them to accurately reproduce portraits,
landscapes, and other iconography. Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter often worked in this style.

CO NC EP TUA LISM
In turn, Pop Art also art helped shape Conceptualism, which fought against the idea of art as a
commodity. Though this experimental movement is rooted in art of the early 21st century, it
emerged as a formal movement in the 1960s and remains a major contemporary art
movement today. In conceptual art, the idea behind a work of art takes precedence. Major
conceptual artists include Damien Hirst, Ai Wei Wei, and Jenny Holzer.

MINIMA LISM
Like Conceptualism, Minimalism materialized in the 1960s and is still prevalent today.
According to the Tate, both movements “challenged the existing structures for making,
disseminating and viewing art.” What sets Minimalism apart, however, is that its simple, abstract
aesthetic invites viewers to respond to what they see—not what they think a given work of
art represents. Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Dan Flavin are some key Minimalist artists.

Performance Art

Another movement with Conceptualist roots is performance art. Beginning in the 1960s and
retaining its popularity today, performance art is a drama-inspired approach to art. While the art
form is performed by artists (as the name suggests), it is not solely intended as entertainment.
Instead, its goal is to convey a message or idea. Predominant performance artists include Marina
Abramović, Yoko Ono, and Joseph Beuys.

Installation Art

Like performance pieces, installation art is an immersive medium of art. Installations are three-
dimensional constructions that transform their surroundings and alter viewers’ perceptions
of space. Often, they’re site-specific and large-scale. Well-known installation artists
include Yayoi Kusama and Dale Chihuly.

Earth Art

A unique spin on installation art, Earth Art (or Land Art) is a movement in which
artists transform natural landscapes into site-specific works of art. Robert Smithson, Christo
and Jeanne-Claude, and Andy Goldsworthy are celebrated for their avant-garde earthworks.

Street Art

As one of the most recent contemporary art movements, street art is a genre that gained
prominence with the rise of graffiti in the 1980s. Often rooted in social activism, street art
includes murals, installations, stenciled images, and stickers erected in public spaces. Key street
artists include figures from the 1980s, like Jean-Michel Basquiat b Keith Haring, as well as
practicing artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

Modern Art

Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s
to the 1970s, and denotes the styles 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 experimentation. Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas
about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency away from the narrative, which
was characteristic for the traditional arts, toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art.

Traditional Art

Traditional arts are artistic activities such as music, dance, and crafts that are passed down from
one generation to the next within families and communities and are regarded by the community
as part of their heritage.
Traditional art could really be anything not digitally generated. So painting, drawing, sculpture,
print making, and coloring crayons could be considered forms of traditional art. Non-Traditional
art would be a painting generated from scratch out of photoshop or a manipulated photograph
such as with photoshop. This question really has to do more with how something is created,
rather than what is created. If you could have made something a hundred years ago, it would be
considered "Traditional Art", whereas if your work relies on some modern technology like a
computer, then it is not traditional art, no matter what it looks like in the end. Hope I wasn't
confusing.

https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-contemporary-art-definition/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_art

https://www.quora.com/What-is-traditional-art