WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY ART?

Contemporary art, a faithful reflection of society

Contemporary art is, in itself, the art of our own time. It is produced and manifested in the present, responding to the cultural consciousness of the moment, to its society, to the shared needs, and to the spirit of the times.

Art is inherent to humanity, to its culture and evolution. No era has been devoid of artistic manifestations, through which we can read and investigate the intricacies of history.

The art theorist Jacob Burckhardt understood art and other human productions as a link in the history of culture. He maintained that the art of each period is the most complete expression of the spirit in which it is produced, not alien to religion, the state, or the interests of capital. Everything influences its manifestations, thus being co-responsible for the development of history itself.

From this perspective, contemporary art and its various expressions are a faithful reflection of what today's society is experiencing. The panorama shows great diversity and encompasses a very heterogeneous set of artistic practices, as well as different approaches when it comes to defining the period it encompasses. Understanding contemporary art means understanding conflicts, realities, and societies. Knowing art inevitably leads us to understanding humanity.

Contemporary art, the rupture.

Technically explained, it generally refers to the artistic expressions that emerged in the 20th century, coinciding with the break with traditional models and a new critical and experimental nature. Examples include contemporary artistic movements such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Neoplasticism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.

Isms that transformed the idea of art, beauty, and aesthetics at the beginning of the 20th century. They were revolutionary in the way we painted, exhibited, and described reality.

Although contemporary art shares many aspects with the avant-garde art of the first half of the 20th century, it also responds to new constraints.

It offers a broad field of action and combines painting and sculpture with other disciplines such as video, installation, performance, street art, illustration, collage, photography, digital art, among others, which manifest themselves within diverse styles such as abstract art, minimalism, figurative art, and conceptual art.

Some examples

Among the most outstanding representatives of contemporary art, we can find different figures and expressions such as Ai Weiwei, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono, Theaster Gates, and also Dalí, Picasso, Van Gogh, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and so on.

The term, therefore, has a meaning that goes beyond temporality and is firmly linked to assimilated concepts and contexts, made their own by the artists and the environment in which they are immersed. Contemporary artworks demonstrate a rupture in artistic unity, emerging as a reaction to the situation and historical-social context in which the artist finds himself.

New materials, techniques, and technological and industrial methods are used to create. The fusion of artistic movements, the pursuit of originality, the value of experimentation and processes, and the creation of new discourses within conceptual art are characteristics we see present in the vast majority of contemporary artworks.

Source