Contemporary Art Part 1

                                         Contemporary, Recent Modern Art, Part 1

   

                                                        Introduction

        Appreciation of Contemporary art requires an openness to accept new ideas or at least to recognize the ideas but with no obligation to like all the art you see. We now begin an outline of those ideas

Masterpiece Art

Knowing the distortion, and resentment associated with loaded terms it is wise to first examine our use of the word art.  Let’s begin with the most respected art which we choose to call masterpiece art.  The name Classical Art was tempting to use here but it is most associated with the art of Greece and Rome.  So, seeking a wider meaning, under the name Masterpiece Art, let’s accept Classical art plus Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Impressionist, and early modern art.  These are all distinguished  by expert, exquisite, masterful  drawing, painting, and sculpting.  Some of masterful art's biggest names in chronological order are: Exekias - painted pottery, Praxiteles - sculpture, Duccio, Leonardo, Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Nolde, Stella, and Albers. Further, we should not forget the many anonymous masters throughout the ages.  All those artists produced art objects that were beautiful and exhibited the consummate skill of the maker, hence they belong to our category masterpiece art.

                                                     Recent Art 

On the other hand, much modern art, since about the mid twentieth century onward, doesn't depend on masterfulness at all.  It could have masterfulness but it is not required.  Instead, the hallmark of recent art is visual play with ideas.  By comparison, playing with ideas has been freely accepted for centuries in the other arts, such as speculative fiction, poetry, storytelling, theater, cinema, science fiction, and fantasy.

                                     Stumbling Blocks to Contemporary Art 

Stumbling blocks prevent people from accepting modern art as visually playing with ideas. 

    One block is the word art itself, which they associate with the prestige of Masterpiece Art.      

A second block occurs when people hear of very high prices paid for art that they don’t respect.  They feel the market is a fraud and the works don’t deserve the high price.  By the way, the observer might be consoled by the fact that as the decades pass, some high priced art loses value.  That happens especially if the price was driven by speculation and hype to begin with. 

A third block arises because of the reverential tone of art writers and critics, even when discussing questionable ludicrous works.  At times, the reader may feel conned by the artist as well as the curator and the art critic.  

                                                Comparison to Other Arts 

For comparison, the literary and theatrical arts don’t have the stumbling block of masterpiece expectation nor do they have the taint of undeserved high price.  Besides which, literary, theatrical, and movie critics really do criticize. 

 As an example of real criticism, on Nov. 9, 2018, in the Arts Section of the New York Times there was a review of the new musical King Kong.  The title of the review is: The Mess that Roared.  The next byline is: It takes two critics to wrestle with the 2,000 pound gorilla at the heart of this mixed up $35 million Broadway musical.  Later, the critics refer to a hodgepodge of murk and a car wreck of clichés.  Now that’s criticism with gusto.   In comparison, the art world’s critics seem like anemic bought-off lap dogs.

                                 A Good Attitude to Have

Aside from criticism or lack thereof, the best way to enjoy modern art is to accept it as creative expression or even visual play.  It is subject to all the raw edges of the other art forms and perhaps some more.  So, expect on occasion, decadence, waste, dystopia, horror, craziness, perversity, pointlessness, bad taste, showboating, posturing, ego trips, fakery, over the top ideas, and ideas gone wrong.  But also expect some meaningful good ideas.  With diligence and good fortune we all can find some “modern masterpieces”. 

                                 Categories of Contemporary Art

        We will regard the following categories as abstract in much the way that parody, satire, and metaphor are abstract.                                                 

                                                         Message Art                                             

Prior to now we examined art whose purpose was to be abstractly attractive by means of color, form, design, and texture. The art was also perhaps attractive by the idea behind its construction.  In message art, on the other hand, the attractiveness of the work is secondary to its message.  Although our main consideration has been pictorial abstract art, message art and related types are a large part of modern art so we present a cursory tour.  

We will list categories of message art and some other types with a description and characterization of each.  We won't show images in every category.  The description should allow you to decide if you are interested in seeing images via an internet search or find them on this blog by search through the labels list or simply keep reading through the posts and they will show up.        

Many of the category names are accepted and used in the art world, but I had to improvise names for some additional categories in order to sweep up and organize more forms of art.  Of course, some art works fall into more than one category.

                                                           Identity Art  

         Gender themes relate to how gender roles are constructed by society rather than being wholly innate. Here are a few examples.  Richard Prince uses the Marlboro Man image to convey ruggedness and independence. If carried far enough, satire creeps in.  Laurie Simmons makes tableaux, little dioramas, such as a kitchen from the 1950s and a doll-like woman, conveying nostalgia but also the confining life of a housewife of that time. 

 A sub category points to racial and ethnic issues such as suppression, persecution, and bias.  For example, Glenn Ligon prints replicas of  runaway slave advertisements with a graphical silhouette of a slave running away.  Below the figure is a description of the runaway slave‒ actually a description of Ligon himself by his friends written in a police criminal description style.

      Body Art

         Body Art brings attention to how people alter their body with piercings, tattoos, and clothing. Those are meant to express sexuality, reproductive rights, or rebellion against prevailing culture or government. Body art also investigates how women’s bodies have been presented in male dominated art over the centuries.  

                                                         Performance Art  

Please look at our example which is both body art and performance art.  In 1964 Yoko Ono first performed her work called Cut Piece.  She starts fully and nicely clothed on stage with a pair of scissors on hand for others to use.  She asks people from the audience to snip off a piece of her clothing of a size they choose and to keep the piece.  Some people are timid and cut small pieces while others boldly cut more.  Yoko sits stoically.  This continues until Yoko stops the process when she is nearly nude.

          

                        

 

                                                               Populist Art  

The artist Jeff Koons wants to reach the widest possible audience ‒ and make money in the process.  His work, which he makes in multiple copies, includes a giant size polished steel version of a balloon dog and another, a giant suspended version of a valentine heart.  These typically sell for over a million dollars each.  Some artists regard his work as trite kitsch, but he is clearly an economic success.

                                                                Protest Art  

This category draws attention to oppressive governments, injustice, and conditions of human suffering.  For example, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, in order to protest the refugee crisis, collected fourteen thousand actual discarded life vests worn by migrants arriving by sea and arriving in Italy or Greece.  He wrapped the colorful life vests around the columns of the Konzert Haus in Berlin, hence this is also public art.