For as long as we can find records of history, there is one thing that has always existed: art. Ever sincethe dawn of time, human beings have participated in creating art of some type, whether it be carvings inside caves or paintings of animals using natural colors. From rocks to color extracted from flowers and plants, people would use anything and everything to create drawings. It’s almost as if art isn’t optional to human beings; it’s a vital part of us.
As humans evolved and gained more knowledge, the artists have also evolved. They aren’t using rocks to carve into caves anymore, but they are still creating art in new and innovative ways by adding their own imagination to it.
Types of Contemporary Art
If you love art and admire artists , you likely have a number of questions about the different types of art and how to interpret them. When it comes to contemporary art, it can be challenging to come with an objective definition of the term because it covers so many themes, concepts, and subject matters.
It is a type of art that is created solely by an artist of modern-day society and can encompass everything from paintings, sculptures, photography, installation, and even video art and performances. However, if your focus is specifically on paintings, the following are some of the most common types of contemporary art that you’ll come across.
1.Abstract Art:
Abstract art is inspired by unnatural objects, including geometric patterns, inorganic shapes, and other such formats. It is all about colors, lines, patterns, textures, compositions, and processes. The general theme of abstract art is based on figures and landscapes that depict simplicity, purity, and spirituality.
However, the most interesting aspect of abstract art is its openness for interpretation. Often, multiple people can look at a single piece of abstract and see completely different objects. It depends on the artist’s imagination and the viewer’s curiosity, along with a combined willingness to explore the artwork—and there really is no limitation to this type of art.
2.Still Life Art:
In stark contrast to abstract art, still life art takes inspiration from everyday objects. It is an essential type of western art and includes nearly all types of natural or human-made objects, such as food, fruits, vegetables, plants, furniture, games, and any inanimate objects you can think of.
There can also be a dark side to still life art, as artists have also depicted dead people in their artworks. In a way, this still highlights the philosophy behind this type of art, which juxtaposes the celebration of the material pleasures of the world with the absolute truth of the short-lived existence of these pleasures as well as human life itself. Either way, this extreme representation has stood the tests of time.
3.Surrealist Art:
Surrealism took birth as a movement in the 1920s. This artistic and philosophical movement flourished in Europe between World War I and II and sought to tap into the unconscious mind and explore the irrational and subconscious notions. In order to convey their internalized thoughts, surrealist artists use easily recognizable objects in their artworks but represent them in a way that leaves the viewers perplexed.
More often than not, surrealist art features proactive imagery portrayed through incredible graphics. Perhaps Andre Breton, a French writer and poet, described it best when he described surrealism as a “psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner - the actual functioning of thought.”
4.Figurative Art:
Figurative art follows a philosophy that has always been the goal of artmaking: to create realistic representations while using illusionary characteristics. Traditionally, figurative art has been derived from real object sources, often depicting human figures.
In recent times, figurative art has also been combined with other types of art, such as abstract, minimalist and cubist, to create unique artworks. Either way, figurative art has maintained a strong foothold over the centuries.
5.Pop Art:
Pop art has emerged over the course of post-war during the mid to late 1950s. It’s an essential artistic development that actually came into existence as a reaction to mass culture when artists began to explore reimaginations of commercial imageries.
Artists used common place objects such as newspapers, magazines, comic strips, road signs, bottle cans, and other popular commercial world articles to convey their message. In pop art, artists have complete freedom to take inspiration from any source or object, even being allowed to incorporate names, logos, and celebrity images into their art.
