Introduction Pieces

Today I wanted to just share some pieces of contemporary artwork that I find intriguing. I wanted to use these three pieces of artwork as my sort of introduction to the type of art we will be looking at. The first piece I wanted to talk about is called “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” which is the image with the shark. This art piece is a large tank that includes a real shark that has been preserved inside of it forever. It was created in 1991 and is honestly an aw to look at. Honestly based off of the name I have a lot of thoughts on what the overall meaning of the piece could be. Personally I think it is supposed to sort of mean that we do not view this shark as dead because it does not look dead.

Next I wanted to talk about a piece called Free and Leisure by Yue Minjun in 2003. I find the painting to overall be a bit creepy. I think that the name of the painting gives it maybe a less weird aspect but when I look at the oversized mouths I become uncomfortable. As described by the artist though it is said the painting represents how man and heaven can coexist.

Lastly I wanted to talk about “Field for the British Isles” by Antony Gormley. In this piece there are over 25,000 small figures that are places together to create this almost dead grass looking picture. This artist has created many “fields”in which he places hundreds of these small handmade figures to create different shapes or images. I personally loved this piece of artwork because the first time I ever looked at it I thought it was a painting of wheat. It feels almost other worldly and I really enjoy it. As lame as it might sound I really enjoy “cottage core” or “dream core” pictures or pieces of art so I found this to be reminiscent of that.

What is Contemporary Art?

What is Contemporary Art? Honestly this question can be a little harder to answer than you think. Contemporary art is art that is created today. It can include painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video art, and performance. Unlike most artistic eras, the timeframe for contemporary art is considered a little blurred. People widely consider the contemporary art era to begin around the 1960s or the 1970s. Contemporary art can have many different images and ideas. Artwork has become bolder, more hyper realistic and more experimental. Pieces can range from a large pile of neon colored dirty laundry to 10 metal square boxes lined up against a white wall. I enjoy contemporary art because it really can be left up to the viewer to interpret it. Even though we all see the exact same item or artwork physically does not mean that we all mentally view it the same. This is why I appreciate contemporary art so much. There is so much to unpack in a piece of work that may seem confusing or senseless to some. I hope you can enjoy and help understand some pieces I plan to look over in this blog.