Traditional VS Contemporary (2024)

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Modern and Contemporary art are two distinctly different art era's.

Modern art refers to artworks created in the time between 1980's - 1970's

Contemporary art refers to the artworks created in the time between 1970's - now

Traditional art aimed to represent reality or realism through narrative.

Whereas,

modern art aimed to throw aside the tradition of the past and experiment with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. This type of art played and experimented with more bold and abstract ideas.

This period of art included a number of style's or movements, including, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dadism, Surrealism, Pop Art, and many more. These movements were influenced by a variety of factors such as light, african art, asian art, and artist that were known as 'Modernist Masters', for example, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy and many more.

Contemporary art is much more focussed on social/society focussed. They usually reflect or comment on modern society using new techniques and materials, such as videos/technology. Contemporary art can be completely new, or influenced by past artworks/artists. An example of contemporary artworks that were influence by previous artists/artworks are appropriation artworks, which use old images/subjects to create a new artwork that portrays a new perspective. Some examples of contemporary artists are Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Marina Abramovic, Dan Christensen and Ronald Davis.

Contemporary Art

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· What is consideredcontemporary art? Why?

Contemporary Art means "art that has been and continues to be created during our lifetimes". Art that was created from the 1960's/1970's up until now is considered contemporary art. This type of art is known to be much more socially conscious than any previous era has been.

· What materials and techniques are commonly usedwithin contemporaryart?

Contemporary artworks commonly use a variety of materials and techniques, including new technologies such as computers, three-dimensional, live elements and performances, etc. Contemporary art also includes the beginnings of installation art and conceptual art, the use of new materials, the impact of indigenous art, and the rethinking of the "found object".

· Why do artists choose to use these materials and techniques?

It appears that contemporary artists consider the old methods of modernism as too conformist (a person who follows accepted behaviour/established practices) or vague (of uncertain, indefinite, unclear character or meaning). Instead, the artists decide to make their own works of art, using the above stated materials, according to their own style.

· What are the key subject matters explored?

In contemporary art, many different subjects are explored, there is no specific subject matter that is explored. However, a significant amount of contemporary artists often reflect and comment on modern-day society.The audience of the piece of work are challenged to set aside questions such as, "Is the work good?" or "Is the work aesthetically pleasing?" and instead, the viewers consider whether the art is "interesting" or "challenging". Contemporary artists may also acknowledge and find inspiration in art works from previous time periods, both in subject matter and formal elements, for example an appropriated artwork.

· Provide numerous examples of artworks by different artists tosupport the arguments made for the above questions.(Consider structural elements such as composition)

Specimen (After Dürer), John Baldessari, 2000

Artist John Baldessari appropriated an image of a stag beetle, from 1505, that was formerly from the German artistAlbrecht Dürer. Baldessari used modern-day materials (ink-jet printing mounted on a fiberglass panel). He then used a giant steel pin inserted into the canvas to combine mediums in a very modern way.

Traditional Art

· What is considered contemporary art? Why?

Traditional art consisted of many art forms that were relevant to the past. Some of these art forms include paintings, sculptures, printmaking, mosaics and drawings. Traditional art was prominently created using cultural perspectives and ideas, this means that different cultures used different materials and processes to display their own cultural ideas. For example, "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo, expresses his view of religion and beliefs. And, Raphael's self portrait showed realism, a common traditional technique.

· What materials and techniques were commonly used within traditional art?


Materials commonly used within traditional art are paint pencils, charcoal, clay, plaster, brush, pottery wheel, palette knife and others. Techniques included those that were traditional to art, such as traditional painting and drawing methods. Paintings were a very prominent form of art and often paintings of architectural buildings such as churches and monasteries that showed religious belief and respect were common.

· Why did artists choose to use these materials and techniques?

Artists choose to use these materials because traditional art was considered cultural and religious in the past and using these different materials to give the art more meaning and texture about its form. They also used these materials to show the cultural and religious perspective. Some cultural artworks from Japan use traditional material to show their cultural background as Japanese artist used traditional woodblock print method to show their traditional style of art.

· What were the key subject matters involved?

Key subject matter involved in traditional art was often religion- and culture-related. Many of the themes present now were undiscovered, in art, as a means of expression during this time. This meant that art and artists created art that was very similar.

· Provide numerous examples of artworks by different artists tosupport the arguments made for the above questions.(Consider structural elements such as composition)