“Contemporary art is any kind of art which has been produced from the early sixties to the present” (Coleman, 1998)., the word contemporary has been used to define the art of today and this was as a result of lack of a well known art school that can be found in the world and which can be recognized by artists and art lovers. “Contemporary art includes all the pieces of arts which have been produced between the sixties and the start of twentieth century” (Frost, 2008). “Contemporary art encompasses different types of styles, these styles will depend on the artist, each style is interdependent from each other and they are; digital art, photographs, music, painting sculptures and video” ( Klotz, 1997).
Contemporary art is not the same as modern art, modern art involves mainly base painting such as color and the use of brush to paint on a canvas. Contemporary art is a social kind of art as you compare it to modern art and in many years since early sixties, contemporary art has been connected with many issues such as; famine, “feminism, multiculturalism and disease awareness (AIDS). All will come readily to mind as subject will matter a lot in this form of art” (London, 2006).
“In the seventies, when you compare the number of entries for the modern art to that of contemporary art, you will notice there are more entries for contemporary art than modern art. This is because contemporary enjoy more working artists” (Perry, 2004).
In picture one, both of this kids have been infected by HIV. The younger brother cannot walk because he is weak as results of AIDs which have affected both of this kids, his elder brother carries the smaller brother because the smaller brother has a full blown type of AIDs. These kids have contracted AIDs from their mother when they were born. Their father passed away two years ago from AIDs related complications and their mother is at end stage as a result of AIDs complications and she is receiving palliative care. “Their family is poor and cannot be able to afford the cost of treatment of AIDs, instead they relying on non profit making organizations which deals with the treatment of AIDs” (Stiles, 1996).
This pictures main intention is to capture the attention of people throughout the world on the effect of HIV/AIDs in most African countries. It is known that the effect of AIDS on the family can be very severe. Although the people who are mostly affected by AIDs are often the poorest people in the society and are at risk to the diseases brought about as a results of AIDs. “The effect of AIDs causes the family to disintegrate, because the affected parent will die as results of AIDs complications and the children in that family will be sent to their relatives to be looked after” (Taylor, 2005).
In Picture Two, the picture was taken in a pub toilet. A pub is one of the fertile ground place for contemporary art, because many good ideas have been initiated among friends, typically after taking at least five quick pints, laced with beer. People who drink most, say outrageous words which will require proof of concept in the outside as fantasy world (pub) because when you remind a sober person what he said yesterday while he/she was drinking, “the person will not be in a position to remember the thing he/she was saying while in the pub” (Timms,2004).
An artist mind is like that of a pub drinker with many crazy friends. Imagine an artist saying to himself I can make anything out of clay, the demented friends will laugh at him and even they will offer him more pints that he couldn’t, because the friends will think it is impossible to do that. The second picture is actually a dispenser which I mostly found in toilets but this kind of dispenser has been modified and the contents flowing from this dispenser is just paint which will come out like a paper towel. This is what we call contemporary art, because it is brilliant to any artist who used tin paint to rub into the canvas.
The first picture was taken in Uganda, The aim of this picture was to show what effect AIDs can have on a community, while the second picture was taken from a gallery in London, it was a masterpiece of Tom Fredman. Both of these two pictures can capture the audience mind, because they are all the creation of contemporary art. The first picture has strong impacts on people minds as you compare it to the second picture which is just an artist way of illustrating his creativity, because it is sad and any audience who sees this picture will have many questions about the effect and impact of AIDs disease in the community.
Similarities of these pictures, they are all the creation of contemporary art; both of these artist want to drive a point to their audience. In the first picture the artist want to drive the point of the impact of AIDs in developing countries, while in the second picture the artist’s main aim was to tell his creativity to his audience, “because when you see the second picture, an art lover will have so many question about the picture” (Klotz,1997).
The difference between these two pictures is that, the first picture will give direct information to the art lovers, when an audience sees the picture his first reaction will be the suffering which people in developing countries are undergoing, the picture itself is sad and the use of children makes it even sadder. In the second picture it will not give the audiences direct information, because when an art lover sees the picture he may think it just a toilet paper dispenser, until the creator of that photo explain it to his audience that the picture is not a toilet dispenser but the contents flowing from that paper dispenser is just a layer of paint which has been made to look like a paper towel.
References
- Coleman, A. (1998).After the end of art: contemporary art and the pale of history. London, Princeton University Press.
- Frost, R. (2008). Contemporary art: the march of art from CĂ©zanne until now. Wisconsin, Crown Publishers.
- Klotz, H. (1997). Contemporary art: ZKM/Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Michigan, Prestel Publisher.
- London, S. (2006). Contemporary art London, Sotheby’s Publisher.
- Perry, G. (2004). Themes in contemporary art. New York, Yale University Press.
- Stiles, K. (1996). Theories and documents of contemporary art: a sourcebook of artists’ writings. California, University of California Press.
- Taylor, B. (2005). Contemporary art: art since 1970, London, Pearson Prentice Hall.
- Timms, K. (2004). What’s wrong with contemporary art. New York, UNSW Press.