Modern art emerged in the late 1800s as artists broke from traditional styles and subjects to experiment. Two influential modern works were Jay DeFeo's giant painting "The Jewel" from 1958-1959 and Frantisek Kupka's "Irregular Forms: Creation." While using the same medium of oil paint on canvas, the works conveyed very different feelings. DeFeo's piece was lush and organic, while Kupka's had a sense of movement and energy. Contemporary art continued experimenting with new styles, subjects, and mediums in the 20th century while also addressing social and political issues of the time.

1. Contemporary Art Essay
Contemporary Art: Dealing with Post–Modernity
в€’ "Art worlds consist of all the people whose activities are necessary to the production of the
characteristic works which that world, and perhaps others as well, define as art. ... By observing
how an art world makes those distinctions rather than trying to make them ourselves we can
understand much of what goes on in that world.... The basic unit of analysis, then, is an art world."
– Howard Becker (Art Worlds)
Postmodernism deconstructs Modernism like Modernism deconstructed art
Like the Simpson's episode that explained Po–Mo as "weird for the sake of weird",
Postmodernism accepted the philosophy "art for the sake of art". A very free and democratic
practice, a natural response...show more content...
Postmodernism embraces hypertext and hyperplicity, or the rejection of centralized control. It looses
trust in the media and public communication, embracing simulacrum as a hyper–reality that was
only long–ago based on some sort of truth. Most importantly, Postmodernism rejects the
Modernist idea of high art as normative and dominant. Instead, it merges the concept of "low" and
"high" art, effectively canceling them both. Where Modernism saw a work of art as a finished
product, signed by the artist and authenticated by the art market,
Postmodernism sees art as a recycling of culture, authenticated by whatever audience that may be.
Where Modern art is a separate dichotomy of contrasting themes (organic/nonorganic, realist
/abstract), Postmodern art mixes all available ideas into a sensational pastiche. Finally Modernism
clearly divided normity versus sexual difference and pornography. Postmodernism embraces
whatever ideas have an audience, and mixes polymorphous sexuality and pornography with
mainstream media. Postmodernist art and media reject the linear way of working, building upon a
specific discourse and ideology. It embraces instead, an anything–goes attitude, expanding mediums
and messages into multiple directions. As long as there's an audience somewhere, the work can be
considered legitimate art.
Modernist trends in the Postmodern Art–World
It is important to note – since the work is still authenticated by its audience, art still
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2. 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
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3. 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
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4. 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
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5. 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
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6. 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 of modern 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.
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