The document summarizes a visit to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA) for an anthropology assignment. SMOCA had just revamped their space to feature works by nine female Aboriginal Australian artists representing diverse contemporary art practices in Aboriginal Australia. The artists used their art to empower their communities and speak to universal themes. Their works represented themselves, their lifestyles, traditions, and the meanings and stories of their experiences to help the public understand. Larrakitj poles on display were traditionally created to hold bones of the deceased and were decorated with paintings representing guides leading the deceased spiritually.

1. Contemporary Art Homework
For my first passport assignment for anthropology, my friend and I visited the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Museum (SMOCA). They had
just revamped the place to represent woman artists from Aboriginal Australia. The exhibit was called "Marking the Infinite". There were nine female
artists in the exhibition who gave a glimpse into the diverse contemporary art practice of Aboriginal Australia. Their names are Nonggirrnga Marawili,
Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angela Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu, and
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu. They use their art to empower their all–around respective communities and speak to universal contemporary themes. From all
over different areas of Australia,...show more content...
For example, artist Lena Yarinkura began to experiment by using weaving to create representational forms such as animals and regional spirit figures–
supernatural creatures or ancestral beings that inhabited her country. Another artist, Carlene West underwent a rapid transformation; formal symbolic
and narrative elements receded, giving way to more expressive painting. Her paintings offer a metaphor for the connection between place and
indigenous identity. Anthropologist John Carty notes that, "Carlene's marks are the traces of meaningful action; of the actions that made the world,
and that continue to make the world meaningful; of the artist becoming an ancestor." Most of her art represents herself, her lifestyle or traditions; she
puts meanings and backstories in her paintings for example to let the public know what she has been through. They represent themes that are universal
contemporary, and tell the native understandings from the twenty–first century. Lastly, seen at the exhibit were Larrakitj poles. Larrakitj were created
by the people of Yolngu to hold bones of the dead. These poles were somewhat symmetrical, hollow and made out of eucalyptus trees. The surface of
the pole was decorated with a detailed painting that represented the guide of the deceased leading them to their spiritual
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

2. Contemporary Art Analysis
Contemporary art is showcased through the lenses of traditional gallery settings, as well as festival–like venues. For the audience, this means that art
can be discovered and engaged with. What is contemporary art? According to Melissa Ho, assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington,
D.C., "technically," modern art is "the cultural expression of the historical moment of modernity." "With modern art, there is this new emphasis put on
the value of being original and doing something innovative," says Ho (Smithsonianmag.com, 2011). The unique creations for contemporary artists
such as Michael Landy and Amalia Pica, both international artists from the U.K, are currently on view at The Power Plant, a small gallery space that
displays their innovative art. Both exhibits reflect current issues that face modern society, Michael Landy's, DEMONSTRATION, (2017) and Amalia
Pica's In Praise of Listening, (2016). Landy's DEMONSTRATION exhibit at the The Power Plant's Fleck Clerestory is a collaborative work between
himself and the Canadian public in building a hand–lettered, text–based, red–and–white oil paint style wall work known as protest art. Essentially, the
protest art reflects the attitudes, thoughts and feelings on what matters most to Canadians on various current social and political issues (de Leon,
Formal Analysis Part A). His goal for this project is to open up the channel of communication among Canadians. Landy's simple and direct approach
engages the
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

3. The Contemporary Art Era
With the continuation of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty–first century, the art that was considered modern art advanced in style and
technique. The subject matters, while often still being abstract, also changed and varied from artist to artist. This movement was called the
contemporary art era, which is still technically taking place to this day. This movement saw more of a politicization ofmodern art, as more artists began
to depict social or international issues in their works. These included civil rights, feminism, wars, international oppression, and much else. Due to the
increasing connection of the world due to advanced globalization, contemporary art was one of the first art movements to be internationally practiced.
From the United States, to each corner of Africa, to the authoritarian regimes of Iran and China, the art impacted its viewers in its political statements
across the globe.
In the United States, civil rights (namely rights for homosexuals) and feminism became the subject for many works, including paintings, sculptures, and
photographs, created by Jean–Michel Basquiat, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Kiki Smith, just to name a few. Some of these artists became renowned for
their controversy, and some of their works became legally offensive and involved in court scandals, such as with Mapplethorpe. In more modern times,
works to protest the Iraq War and the United States' violation of international law with the Abu Ghraib torture–prison camp.
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

4. Modern Art Essay
Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock are both regarded as being major influences within the movement of modern art. During the peak of their careers
their artwork took on very different styles. Mondrian was born in 1872, he was a Dutch artist, is famously known for his precise, systematic style of
painting. He is renowned for the grid–based paintings that he produced in the early 1920's during his time in Paris (wilder, 2007 p.318). Jackson
Pollocks work was erratic and spontaneous, this is particularly noticeable in the late 1940's when he produced an array of works using a drip painting
technique (ref). Despite the works of Mondrian and Pollock being at opposite ends of the scale when it came to style and imagery, is it possible their
...show more content...
This highlights the importance of having someone to believe in his or her work, and to boost the ego of a doubtful artist.
Despite these differences in character both Pollock and Mondrian greatly appreciated the rhythm and pulse of life, but this is expressed very
differently on canvas. By comparing each of the artist most prominent pieces of work, the influences and motivation towards their style of art can
be investigated. The piece below by Mondrian, Composition with red, yellow and blue (figure 1) was painted in 1921 (Blotkamp 2001 p.180). It
is one of his earliest pieces on which he built a collection of works which composed of an asymmetric grid of black lines, set against a white
background, with some of the rectangles filled with primary colours. The contrast between black and white paint against the simplistic colours is
striking and yet modest, his painting appears effortlessly cool and sophisticated. In contrast the painting produced in 1949 by Pollock, Number 8
(figure 2) is erratic and spontaneous, in the same year he shot to fame when he was featured in Life magazine. He began the drip painting technique
a couple of years earlier and the magazine Time famously labelled him as 'Jack the Dripper' (Landau, 2005 p.11). Both images are very large, abstract
forms of expression, and despite their differences they both have a sense of movement. With Pollocks
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

5. What Is Modern Art? Essay
Ha Lim (Sally) Lee
Term3/Fall15'
Intro to Modernism
Daniel Spaulding
Midterm Essay
What is Modern Art? Modern Art was created roughly during the 1800s to the 1900s. Before this period, art depicted religious or mythological scenes
that told stories and guided the audience through art. "Modern Art denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era."(Arnason)
This time was usually connected with art that threw the old traditions aside in a spirit of experimentation. This doesn't mean that modern art pieces
don't have a story or a meaning behind them. To break out of the tradition, artists had to have courage to do what they loved. In Basic Writings of
Kant, Wood states, "Have courage to use your own reason." Modern art can range from paintings to sculptures. Some artists experimented with the
expressive use of color, non–traditional materials, new techniques, and new mediums. Two of the most popular modern works, currently presented at
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, were "The Jewel" by Jay DeFeo and "Irregular Forms: Creation" by Frantisek Kupka . Both of these paintings
were expressed with oil paint on canvas. However, despite the same mediums used in their works, these two have very opposing feeling from each other.
"The Jewel" by Jay DeFeo was started in 1958 and was finished in 1959. This is a gorgeous giant piece which measures up to 120" by 57.5". The
Jewel recalls that her works of this period were a marriage of painting and sculpture. She
Get more content on HelpWriting.net