What Is Contemporary Art: Everything You Need to Know

With its diversity and complexity, contemporary art responds to several definitions that ultimately complement each other. Contemporary art generally refers to works created since the second half of the 20th century, more specifically from the Second World War. However, the line between modern art (post-Impressionism and pre-1945) and contemporary art is sometimes tenuous.

It first includes works produced by living artists or, in the case of deceased artists, works dating back less than twenty or thirty years. This type of art is also characterized by aesthetic practices and achievements that use new techniques. It also conveys ideas or concepts.  Thus he transgresses the boundaries of art as conceived by modern and classical art.

For example, pop art clearly showed a break in comparison with modern art.

Contemporary art is totally different from classical art. Instead, the term contemporary has been used since 1980 when it became very fashionable. Today, it is very common and can be found in many artists’ exhibitions but also in companies, museums, private collections, and art galleries.

As early as the 19th century, the emergence of photography was a major turning point in the art world. Since photography can represent reality, artists have been able to try other techniques. This is how modern art was born thanks in part to Edgar Degas. Art no longer has the main objective of representing reality as it already exists and other art forms emerge. After modern art, this type of art is followed.

In contemporary art, we also see a reflection of society and crises. Degas gradually settled in galleries and museums in order to make himself known to a wider audience. 

Artists today express their emotions through contemporary art, whether in the form of painting, photography, sculpture… there are no more rules except that the artist always engages deeply in what he does in order to convey an idea. Some artists are more discreet, others seek to make a name for themselves by presenting shocking works, not to mention that technology makes it easy to mediatize art. In any case, this art is always a sign of renewal because the artist likes to search, dig and experiment to propose new works.

Contemporary art a radical turning point

The second half of the 20th century saw one of the great ruptures in the history of art.

While modern art, despite many audacities, has respected the traditional aesthetic categories, this type of art has freed itself from all conventions. It introduced a much deeper upheaval than the one that marked the beginning of the 20th century.

The 1960s marked a turning point, with the emergence of Pop Art, an artistic movement that radically broke with modern art.

Contemporary art asserts itself as a real field of technical experimentation, modes of work. From the 1980s, an art form was born on porosity between all artistic disciplines, paving the way for the dream of the total work of art.

In 1967 conceptual art was born, which questioned the why of art. Artists have a new awareness of their role in a society marked by the upheavals and disenchantments of the post-war period. They want to mark this break by giving themselves more freedom of mind and creation.

This leads them to come together. Groupings, around movements, magazines, schools, manifestos… the notion of collective work emerges in a conception of art that gives primacy to the individual in the act of creation.

A lot of movements

Now the oppositions between figuration and abstraction are outdated. Similarly, globalization has ironed out the rivalries between Paris and New York, the high places of modern art.

Since the 1950s, many movements have developed in several countries whose extreme 

diversity makes analysis complex.

Among the major artistic movements that have marked the contemporary era are, non-exhaustive and non-hierarchical way: abstract expressionism, minimalism, new realism, pop art, Support-Surface, arte povera, Fluxus, narrative figuration, feminist art, hyperrealism, postmodern art, neo-expressionism, new fawns, cyber art, maximalism, pseudo-realism,

The forms of contemporary art

From the point of view of the visual arts, the unprecedented development of photography encourages artists to rethink the function of art: the aim is no longer to faithfully represent reality but to question, criticize, to reveal the real, its contradictions and crises.

For this, art forms are diversifying and can come out of cultural institutions with Street Art or Performative Art. New art forms are being created with the arrival of new technologies such as Video Art, Computer Art, Bio-Art, or Digital Art. Finally, with the development of ephemeral or processual works, the notion of the medium has evolved: painting, sculpture, and drawing are no longer at the center of artistic support.

The installations mix all materials. Design is an integral part of twentieth-century art. Art interferes in all aspects of everyday life: architecture, fashion, the sculpture is a must in public spaces.

We must not forget photography, which by its technique and the immediacy of its production is necessarily contemporary, nor cinema and video, which since the 1980s have integrated the visual arts.

The human body comes into play with happenings and body art, as well as landscapes with land art.

Where to see contemporary art?

The museums of contemporary art, specifically dedicated, are numerous in France and around the world. They can be independent, be part of a modern art museum or form the department of a fine arts museum. They may also depend on private structures.

Art centers or foundations, sometimes private, exhibit artists, often emerging.

In the commercial field, auction houses have specialized in contemporary art and the prices of sales made are part of an artist’s coast. The works are previously exhibited to the public.

Art galleries are also specialized around artists or currents that they promote.

Some artists open their studios. This allows them to meet public or private patrons and collectors.

Defending contemporary art

Contemporary art will pique even more curiosity as it is the source of permanent renewal. It can seem bubbling, revolting, aggressive, pushy, tedious, it is above all gushing and novelty. Contemporary art offers singular emotions that echo our century.

URDLA, founded in 1978, is by definition a place of creation and monstration of contemporary art. With the help of technicians, artists create works in sites that are regularly shown.