Presentations cont.

Walker Art Center's New Elements and Principles of Today's Art

• Traditional elements and principles of art: building blocks of art and design used to express ideas or emotions

• Contemporary artists go beyond these 
• Necessary to learn language of art
• Postmodernism: Art became about content or meaning rather than just aesthetic choice
• Appropriation: giving new identities to old objects
• Push the limits of art
• Reproduced: photographically/digitally
• Re-created: altering scale or style to create nw meaning
• Juxtaposition: layering/redefining
• Time
• Performance art: activity or event performed in front of life audience: music, dance, poetry, theater, visual, etc.
• Performative Art: explores the process mood or actions used to create art
• Space traditionally creates the illusion of space or even abstracted space or positive and negative space
• Walker elements of space: can be installation art, virtual space, or space of sky or surroundings
• Hybridity traditionally is mixing of two species
• Walker concept of hybridity: culture or material

 

Traditional elements and principles of art: building blocks of art and design (used to express ideas or emotions)

Contemporary artists go beyond these elements and principles.

A Short History of Art Today

Elements and principles are a kind of language used in art; just like writers with words, artists can use line, shape, color, etc in different combinations to create meaning in art. It is necessary to learn the language of art in order to understand  and appreciate it.  Before the mid-19th cent. art was created to look realistic and express their ideas about subjects. (Unity, balance, and harmony.)

Modern artists began using elements to create abstract art, separating elements to remove from subject matter. (focusing on color, line, or shape alone.)

Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism - destroy traditional rules.

Traditional elements are often purposefully set aside. Now that content or meaning has become more important than materials used, shouldn't we use different elements?  There is an interest in engaging viewers conceptually that old elements could not adequately express.

Appropriation, Time, Performance, Space, and Hybridity: tools to understanding contemporary art.

	Traditional Elements	Walker’s Elements  / Contemporary
Appropriation Andy Warhol Sixteen Jackies   1964	·      Creating new work by taking a preexisting image/object from another source and giving it a new identity.	·      Re-created: altering scale or style to create new meaning                  Juxtaposition, layering, redefining ·      Reproduced: photographically/digitally ·      Some are politically charged, symbolic, ambiguous, or push limits of art.
Time Bruce Nauman Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear 3/8/94 Edit 1994	·      Subject of the artwork: historical paintings o   Documentation of important events	·      Manipulate how the moment is experienced ·      Utilize the reference of time or an investment of time often through video and film
Performance Niki de Saint Phalle “Untitled from Edition MAT 64” 1964	Performance art: ·      Performed in front of a live audience ·      Often scripted but can be spontaneous ·      Includes music, dance, poetry, theater, visual art, video Performative Art: ·      An artist’s exploration of process, motions, and actions used to create an artwork	·      Performance has evolved to tests of endurance to large-scale, site-specific venues ·      Becoming multimedia ·      Public projects ·      Utilizing the body as a tool to produce art ·      Ritual, private performance, or multimedia event where an artwork is produced or is a by-product of these events
Space	·      Creating the illusion of space or depth on a flat surface. ·      Using one point perspective and/or light and shadow to create the illusion of space. ·      They may even abstract space such as Cubist style. ·      Traditional sculpture is described in positive and negative space	·      When an artist creates a work for a room or specific space, it is called INSTULATION ART. Most installations are temporary and sometimes engage multiple senses such as sight, smell and hearing. ·      Contemporary artists work with space by focusing on real space: the dimensions of a room, limited space of the sky of virtual space of the Internet ·      Materials include but are limited to fine-art or industrial materials, from wood and stone to steel and plastics to frame space or install a work to fill a space. ·      Viewers can be surrounded by art, or are led to a focused experience or perception of a real space.
Hybridity	·      In science, mixing the characteristic of two different species in order to create one that is better or stronger creates a hybrid. ·      In an automobile, a hybrid combines an electric motor with a gasoline engine.	·      The concept of hybridity in art can be applied to two ways ·      Material Hybridity and Cultural ·      Many contemporary artists have blended different cultures in their lives and work that explores issues of personal and cultural identity ·      Materials and media for creating art are wide open. ·      Understanding art today involves identifying what media and materials the artists chose and considering why they chose to work with them. ·      Some artists have selected new materials for their art, such as industrial or recycled materials, and technologies such as photography, video, or digital media ·      Combinations of still image, moving image, sound, digital media, and found objects can create new hybrid art forms that are beyond what traditional artists have ever imagined.