What You Need To Know About The Contemporary Art

The contemporary art genre is currently booming in our country and we’re all for it! Lorraine Chai lays out what you need to know about this emerging culture and how relevant it is in Malaysia today.

WHAT EXACTLY IS CONTEMPORARY ART?

As a movement, it has been around for over 50 years. Contemporary art is a general term that encompasses paintings, photography, sculpture, performing arts, multimedia arts and installations created by artists from recent times. Art historians believe that the genre started in the late 1960s – at the end of the Modernism era. Some of the significant contemporary artists include Yayoi Kusama, Paul McCarthy, Ai Weiwei and local artist, Mohd Noor Mahmud.

Contemporary art has no rigid form or any specific characteristic. It is said to be a period where artworks were reactions towards the Modernism movement – both in terms of philosophy and art. Since the rise of a myriad of political and social issues in the 1990s, it has become a medium where artists relate their work with matters that touch social spheres. Works that addressed subjects like globalisation, cultural diversity, feminism, human rights and environmental issues became a platform to voice their thoughts on shifting cultural landscapes, values and beliefs.

IT’S RENDERED IN MYRIAD FORMS

POP ART

Challenging the sophistication of fine art, pop art came into the art scene with bold images and loud colours, making mass culture and everyday items like comic strips, Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles the centre of attention. Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami and the late Ahmad Azhari Mohd Nor (better known as Jeri Azhari) were some of the pioneers in pop art. Known as ‘art without hierarchy’, pop art blurs the boundaries of ‘high art’ and ‘low culture’. The presence of pop art remains debatable as some critics feel it is sensational and kitschy.

INSTALLATION ART