THE
CONTEM
PORARY
ARTS
LESSON 1
This Lesson will enable you to:
• Describe the beginnings of contemporary art in the Philippines
• Discuss the characteristics of contemporary art
• Explain the importance of process in contemporary art-making
Since the 1950’s, artists have experimented on a variety of
techniques and different ways of expressing their emotions, perceptions,
convictions, ideas, ideology, and other tings that could be expressed
through art.
• There are more than 100 art styles and movements.
• Some of the more famous ones are abstract expressionism, kinetic
art, Op art, performance art, environmental art, feminist art, post-
minimalism, video art, graffiti art, postmodern art, body art, and
digital art.
Jackson Pollock
The She - Wolf
Marcel Duchamp
The King and the Queen surrounded by Swift Nudes
Vassily Kandinsky
Black and Violet
Andy Warhol
Marilyn Dyptich
Henry Moore
Family Group
Henri Matisse
The Open Window
PHILIPPPINE ARTIST
Victorio Edades
• The first to break the rules of art.
• He did not show natural forms nor perspective and used bold stokes
and bright colors.
Women Bathing by a
Waterfall
Carlos ‘Botong’ Francisco and
Galo Ocampo
• Influenced by Western artists.
• Abstraction, expressionism, and surrealism were evident in their
paintings.
‘Harana’ by
Carlos ‘Prayer’ by
Francisco Galo Ocampo
Today, hundreds of contemporary artists are found in the 17 regions
of the Philippines. Their arts can be grouped according to visual and
performance art and crafts.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
CONTEMPORARY ARTS
• Contemporary art is not confined to the museum.
• They are also found in galleries, art schools, side streets, and public
spaces like the train or bus stations, shopping centers or parks.
Example is the performance art of Cagayan de Oro artist
Nicolas Aca
Urges Oro churchgoers:
No to vote-buying
• The practice of selling paintings has also changed in contemporary art.
a. Many installation artworks are intended for display only in a
particular setting and for a given span of time.
b. Many artworks are posted online.
• Many contemporary artists are self-taught and did not have formal
educations.
• Access to different kinds of materials that were originally used for
construction, for example, has expanded the choice of artists.
Example is the Cebu artist Mona Alcudia uses paper to produce solid
forms.
• The shape is unusual, especially in
tropical Philippines but since the
structures are not too big, good air
conditioning can improve the room
temperature.
• Originality is not an issue in contemporary arts.
• An artist can get another artist’s work and add to it, redesign or
interpret it using other materials.
• What is essential to contemporary artist’s therefore, is the process of
art-making.
Andy Warhol
Geovanni Abing
• Contemporary art is a statement that an artist makes about life,
thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and many other things that define human life.
- END
ACTIVITY # 1
• MS Word
- font size: 12
- font style: Arial
• Send it to my fb page:
- Your NUESTRA Collection
• File name must be like this:
- (CAAct#1/Surname)
Independent Work
• As you have learned, originality is not an issue in contemporary art.
An artist can get an artwork done by another artist and use it as his/her
own by adding to the image according to his/her own design.
For example, Michael Buonarroti’s Creation of Adam was used for a Levi’s Jeans
advertisement where God is handing a pair of jeans to Adam.
Search in the Internet for contemporary artworks that are based on
one that has been done in the past. Get the original and new images side
by side and then do the following in writing:
1. Describe the artwork done by an artist in the past.
2. Describe the new artwork based on the previous artwork.
3. Compare the two. What qualities of contemporary art are manifested
in the new artwork?
