Art Since 1945

New York – The ArtCapital of the World

Art Since 1945- a move away from traditional Western art

- a move away from realism

Traditional Western Art

• art has to be beautiful

• art has to be realistic, i.e. closely resemble nature

• an object of art always has a monetary value: it can be sold, it can be bought

• art has to be experiencedin a museum context

Traditional Western Art

• art is not about process, but about the final object

• painting and sculptureare more important than decorative arts (i.e. thereis always a very cleardistinction between art and craft)

• art is detached from life

Dada, early 20th cent. - “What is Art?”

Fountain, Marcel Duchamp, 1917 (ready-made object)

Importance of ContextAnything can become art, even ready-made objects. The

meaning of an artwork does not necessarily lie within it,

but often times arises out of the context in which it exists.

Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (1917), Bicycle Wheel (1951)

“Please Do Not Enter” Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2jFs2StW6o&feature=related

Abstract Expressionism – 40s & 50s

Convergence, Jackson Pollock, 1952

Key Artists: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning

• emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation

• large scale work completely engulfs the viewer

• work is about the act of painting or creation itself

• brush strokes & paint texture have physical presence

• work is abstract, nonrepresentational, gestural,dynamic, emphasizes emotions

Abstract Expressionism

Color Field Painting – 40s & 50s

Untitled (left) / Orange and Yellow (right), Mark Rothko, 1952-53, oil on canvas

Assemblage – 1960s, NY

Assemblage is an artistic process. It consists of making a

3D artistic composition from putting together found objects.

Robert Rauschenberg, NYC

• Art was inspired by Dada

• Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg – most important artists

• Art is closely related to life

• Subject matter was the everyday, banality of urban America

• Used “found” objects, advertising materials,images from magazines

Assemblage – 1960s

Robert RauschenbergInterview with the artist

Monogram, 1955-59, Robert Rauschenberg

Earthwork & Installation Art

There no longer any particular materials that enjoy

the privilege of being immediately recognizable as art

media: recent art is made not only with oil, metal and

stone, but also with air, sound and light.

Andy Goldsworthy – earth art installation James Turrell, “Gard Red” (1968) – mixed media installation

Installation Art – Key Points

• Space is part of the work

• Art no longer has to be viewedin a museum

• Audience is part of the work

• Viewer’s Experience = immersive, interactive

Pop Art – late 50s, 60sPop artists drew their inspiration from the banality of

urban America. Their work acted as a critique of the

commercialization of mass media, TV, advertising,

consumption, etc. Warhol believed that art is a

commodity in the same way the soup cans are.

Andy Warhol James Rosenquist

Pop Art

Marilyn Series, Andy Warhol, 1960s (right)

Dada & Fluxus – emphasis on formal instructions & process +

the willingness to embrace chance. In life, things just happen.

Ex: Marcel Duchamp, “Rotary Glass Plates”, 1920 Ex: Nam June Paik, “Random Access”, 1963

Fluxus - Importance of Chance

Art is Part of Life

Alan Kaprow coins the term “lifelike art”. New art forms

are created such as performance art, “happenings”, etc.

The distinction between art and the everyday is no

longer relevant.

• “Happenings” were staged performances

• Blurred the line between artist and audience

• Gave rise to Performance and Conceptual art of the 70s

• Example: Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”

Happenings

Artists highlight the importance of the creative process

over the final product. The documentation of the process

would often be presented as the work of art itself.

Ex: art made of the leftovers of some prior activity.

Bruce Nauman, “Composite Photo of 2 Messes on the Studio Floor”, 1967

Importance of Creative Process

Conceptual Art: 1950s-70s

All of the new art movements that were created in the

50s-60s can be put under the umbrella of “Conceptual

art”.

In Conceptual Art, “the idea becomes the machine

that drives the work.” (Sol LeWitt)

Ex: Joseph Kosuth, “One of The Three Chairs”, 1965

Postmodern Art

Key features of Postmodernism:

• Appropriation (recycling and re-mixing old images, ideas)

• Pluralism (art can take many directions at once and all of them are equally valid)

Art Since the 80s

Key features of Postmodernism:

• Effects of globalization (Western ideas about art as well as system of art education have been adopted by other non-Western countries, etc.)

• There is no such a thing as “progress” in art:(art history is not a straightforward progression of 1 style to another: you have to study everything that happened, not just the winners…)

Art Since the 80s

Postmodern Art

Fountain, Sherrie Levine, 1991, bronze

Postmodern Art

Keith Haring

Digital Media ArtDefinition & Examples

Digital Media Art is:1. Created with the help of digital

technologies such as computers, digital cameras, GPS devices, mobile phones, etc.

2. Created by artists interested inthe intersection between art & technology

Digital Media Artists:

1. Use technology as a toolExamples: digital photos, prints, etc.

Digital Media Artists:

2. Use technology as a medium(art is being stored in digital format, uses interactiveand participatory features of the medium)Examples: Game Art, Net Art, Interactive Video Installations, Robotics, Data Visualization Art, etc.

Data Visualization Art - C5 Landscape Initiative

http://thirdfaction.org/blog/

Digital Media Art – Strong Connections

to Previous Art Movements

1) Dada

2) Fluxus

3) Conceptual Art

Dada – emphasis on formal instructions

Ex: Marcel Duchamp,

“Rotary Glass Plates”,

1920

Digital Media Art – Characteristics

Formulated by code (math. rules, functions)Artists set up rules, than

leave work open-ended.

Example: Sims

http://www.rhizome.org/artbase/24114/myData/myData=myMondrian is an interactive computer program in which the personal

data provided by viewers is translated into Piet Mondrian-like composition

Fluxus – randomness and chance

Ex: Nam June Paik,

“Random Access”,

1963

Visitors were able to use the sound

head, which has been detached from

the tape recorder, to interactively

run through the tapes glued to the

wall, and constantly vary the sound

sequence according to location

and speed. This random access to

the musical raw material enabled

visitors to produce compositions

of their own.

Conceptual Art – emphasis on the idea

Ex: James Morgan & John Pierre Bruneau, Looks Very Tidy,

2007

http://factorynoir.com/portfolio/media/looks_very_tidy.mov

Digital Media Art – Characteristics

Audience is part of the work – interactive and participatory

aspects of digital art

Digital Media Art – Characteristics

Digital Media Art – Characteristics

Often open ended, in the state of flux

author is a co-creator along with the audience

Ex: Christa Sommerer

and Laurent Mignonneau,

A-Volve, 1994

(interactive, real-time environment)

Digital Media Art – CharacteristicsEx: Christa Sommererand Laurent Mignonneau, Verbarium, 1997

http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/WORKS/FRAMES/FrameSet.html

Digital Media Art – Main Points

1. Consists of binary data

2. Can be easily manipulated, changed, etc.

3. Process-oriented work is ephemeral

4. Often requires collaboration with others

5. Often requires audience participation

6. Often deals with art & technology

7. Often reflects upon digital medium, it’s language and aesthetics

8. Often blurs boundaries between various disciplines

Cool Digital Media projects to check out:

www.rhizome.org

“A Global Festival of Art on the Edge”,

San Jose, California

http://01sj.org/

What is Art?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDo_vs3Aip4

Exercises

What style is this? What are some of the key characteristics of this style?

What style is this? What are some of the key characteristics of this style?

What style is this? What are some of the key characteristics of this style?

What style is this? What are some of the key characteristics of this style?

What style is this? What are some of the key characteristics of this style?