CONTEMPORARY

ART
CONTEMPORARY ART – WHERE IS
ART TODAY?
Artists are using their work to investigate issues important to our world.
Their work can express outrage or hope.
Contemporary art addresses current and historic ideas.
Artists work to explore new technologies and media to create work that encourages critical thinking and visual literacy in our
media-saturated society
Themes
Conservation, ecology, and consumerism
Consumerism, pop culture, and you (greed)
Race, power, and identity
Activism, democracy, and influence
Nature and Man
• Contemporary art is defined by the time it was created rather than the type it falls under. And
the time is what the type itself defines – now. What you see in the present created around you is
nothing but contemporary art.

• If history is anything to go by, then contemporary art is said to start out around the 1950s and
continues to this day.
• Moving on to the last 20 years from now, we have artists that faced the harsh reality, like the war (WW II,
The Cold War), feminism and globalization.

• They grew up with ideals and thoughts different from what artists in the modern era did.

• So now you have a number of artists who consider the old methods of modernism as too conformist or
vague.

• They now decide to make their own works or art according to their style. This gave rise to what we now
call ‘Contemporary Art’.
MODERN ART VS CONTEMPORARY
ART
• Contemporary art pays more attention to the society, while modern art tends to be self-
expressive at times. The former is also a lot more receptive to changes in society.

• Another difference is the advancement in technology. Artists today, have the camera, the
computer and custom software. They will use these to their advantage as they see fit. This
makes a huge difference in the works between the two types of art.
• Contemporary art often spreads to places outside a canvas or a gallery. This art is found
everywhere, from comics in newspapers to the videos on TV, from the freedom on the Internet
to the graffiti on the streets.
Source: https://arthearty.com/difference-between-modern-contemporary-art