No. 14 – Wang Jianuo
What Kind of Art is Popular Today? (Styles & Mediums)
Art has always been an important part of society. Ever since the beginning of time, humans have found new ways to express themselves through art. Art can be anything from a painting on the wall, to a sculpture, a photograph, a sketch or even a poem. There have been many different types of art mediums, styles and techniques that have been popular throughout history, but what kind of art is popular today?
The most popular art today is commonly referred to as Contemporary Art. Contemporary art encompasses many styles including Modern, Abstract, Impressionism, Pop Art, Cubism, Surrealism, Fantasy, Graffiti, and Photorealism. Today’s popular mediums include painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, and digital art.
New innovations with technology have influenced the different ways to create art in the modern era. New art mediums are making it possible for artists to think outside the box. Let’s take a closer look at today’s popular Contemporary Art styles and mediums.
Table of Contents
Is contemporary art the art of today?
What Kind of Art is Popular Today? .
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Contemporary art is a combination of different styles, methods, materials, and concepts. No single concept or ideology completely encapsulates this art style, and this is what sets contemporary art apart from past art eras. Its diversity of subjects and themes is what makes it stand out. Contemporary Art can be seen as a cultural framework for a dialogue about identity, family, community, and nationality.
- Abstract art is a personal favorite of mine. It is an art style that seeks to achieve an effect rather than illustrate an accurate visual reality. For example, famous artist Piet Mondrian used geometric shapes, balancing them with black lines. The style is characterized by bright colors and playing with shapes. This movement began in the 1940s and 1950s after World War ll.
- Impressionist art is often considered to be the first modern movement, but it was actually a formal art practice first found in the 1860s in Paris, before spreading to Europe and the US. Impressionism tells a story with its work and illustrates according to the artist’s impression. It is characterized by small, thin brush strokes playing with light and movement.
- Pop Art emerged in the 1950s and is still a favorite of all age groups. This style challenged traditional fine art with its imagery of popular culture to convey its irony. Pop art can also be seen as a reaction to the dominant abstract expressionism at the time.
- Cubism Was started by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the early 1900s. This style can be described as an abstract expression of realism representing a new reality. Artists would use geometrics, simultaneity, and passage to create this look.
- Surrealism is an artform where objects are placed in situations where they really could not be placed. It’s free of consciousness and illustrates dream-like scenarios. This movement was between the 1920s and the 1950s.
- Fantasy art, also called Fantastic Art, has always been used to illustrate narratives from literature or tales. It explores fantasies, dreams, fiction, and visions, as well as Goth art. As we know it today, Fantasy art had its rise in the 1900s as it was requested in magazines and literature. However, this genre of art is not taught in any art school or shown in fine art galleries.
- Photorealism is a style of artwork where the artist’s copy a picture down to the most minute detail in a painting. This art movement began in the 1980s by Richard Estes and Chuck Close and is also being used in art schools to improve an artist’s overall painting technique.
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Abstract
Spherical Revelation – Peisy Ting
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Sea Breath – Diana Malivani
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Metamorphosis – Sea Stories – Aarti Bartake
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Abstract art, also known as concrete art or nonobjective art, can be defined as a style wherein the artwork takes an element from the real world and represents it using shapes, colors, forms, and gestural marks but detached from it truest form. Objects are represented by shapes and gestural marks while colors symbolize emotions. In other words, this art style is a non-objective, non-representational form of art that seeks to replicate the essence of the objects from real life in a simplified or reorganized way in order to highlight the artists’ interpretation of reality.
Figurative
The Concert Pianist – Ta Thimkaeo
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Le Bonbon – Ahn Sun Mi
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Jump in the Summer – Nata Zaikina
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Scene #24 (From Here to Eternity) – Simon Ng
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Figurative art is the art of realistic representation and has been the goal of art-making since ancient times. Traditionally, figurative artists strove to create works that were derived from real object sources and often depicted human figures. It is regarded as what contrasts abstract art – art that does not employ recognizable motifs – also known as non-representational art. From its evolution to art-making today, we notice that figurative works still have a stronghold in our contemporary sphere. Like many others in the contemporary art world, figurative art has teamed up with other genres such as abstract, cubist and even minimalist art whilst still withholding a strong sense of figuration.
Geometric
Star Clock at Night II – Sinta Tantra
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Biosphere 12 – Romicon Revola
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C No. 3b – Wan Yang
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Order – Tetsuya Fukushima
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Geometric art is artwork rendered through the use of geometric forms made out of points, lines, angles, and shapes. This art style uses a range of geometric shapes from a simple triangle, square, and circle to complex shapes that requires math to create them. Unlike the natural form of organic shapes, geometric shapes favor precision and may even require using tools like a straight-edge or compass.
MEDIUM-BASED CLASSIFICATION OF ART FORMS
This visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, photography. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types.
This kind of architecture designs are the designing buildings and (some) non-building structures. The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.
Music is an art. There are many forms of music that made us happy and peaceful. Like rock, pop, jazz, and etc.
This dance art are a studio devoted to teaching dance as an art form. From children to adults, our faculty provides each student with instruction, encouragement, and personal interest to succeed.
As a result of personal interest & instruction, many of our former students are dancing & teaching with professional companies, colleges, and theaters.
This Theater Arts combines drama, dance, critical studies, and theater design/technology to offer students an intensive, unified undergraduate program. The lower-division curriculum requires a range of practical work in various sub-disciplines and a rigorous exposure to the history of drama, design, and dance.
This photography is the science, art, application and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.
The Cinema Arts Program. Approaching movies as an active viewing experience, staff in the Cinema Arts Program view the projection screen as a portal to investigation. We engage with filmmakers who create works that inspire the imagination and instigate conversation.
BROADCAST AND TELEVISUAL
A principal function of radio and television brodcasting has been the dissemination of works of art created for other media.
DIGITAL ARTS AND COMPUTER MEDIATED WORKS
This art is an artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as an essential part of the creative or presentation process. Since the 1970s, various names have been used to describe the process, including computer art and multimedia art. Digital art is itself placed under the larger umbrella term new media art.
This art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called public art, land art or intervention art however, the boundaries between these terms overlap.
