Contemporary Art Overview

Contemporary Art

• Contemporary art is broadly defined as art created now.
• A formal definition is hard to create because the meaning of contemporary art is in constant flux.
• Critics, curators, and historians interpret contemporary art in various ways.
• Contemporary art is a dynamic, ever-evolving field.

What is Art?

• Art is the expression of ideas and emotions using a physical medium. Examples: painting, sculpture, film, dance, writing, photography, and theatre.

Contemporary

• Derived from Latin.
• "Con" means together or with.
• "Tempus" means time.

Chronological Approach to Contemporary Art

• Defines contemporary as art created in the current era or lifetime.

• This view considers art based on its time of creation, including modern, recent, and new art from the present.

• A question to consider: were masterpieces from the Renaissance considered contemporary in their time?

• Art produced after 1945 is often considered contemporary.

• Art produced since the 1960s is also often considered contemporary.

Historical Approach to Contemporary Art

• This view considers contemporary art as being part of a specific period in the evolution of art.

• Contemporary art is specific to a particular time and place.

• Concerns about a start or end date of modern art.

Contemporary Art in the Philippines

• A time of repression, censorship, and artistic expression in the 1970s.
• The presidency of Ferdinand Marcos and Martial Law led to tighter controls over the media, art, and the schools.
• The Marcos regime censored artistic expressions.
• A political art movement (Social Realism) arose that challenged the administration.
• Social Realism aimed to expose social realities.
• The artworks created during the Marcos period, in reaction to social conditions, are now considered contemporary forms of art.
• The artistic works of this period are considered an extension and reaction of the era.
• The period following the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 brought about a new period of freedom in artistic expression with new technologies and tools.