Contemporary Art

Contemporary art is a different form of art, one that many people would not consider to be art. Paintings, sculptures, music, and even poetry are things that most common people would classify as art. Art is something that contains a lot of different things, sometimes more things than meet the actual eye. Art does not have to be something that you make or do in a studio, it can be anywhere you want it to be. It can be whatever it is you imagine it to be. Art can involve actual action and participation as well. Contemporary art is a way to take art to another, higher level, a new level very different from other art forms.
Art known by many is not something that is very important. It's not important in the sense that nothing that comes from art would significantly change a society. There may be a society in which art is very important to the people within it; however, it does not physically change their lives in any way. Some may argue with such a statement, however, majority of people don't feel that art can have a change on the world we live in. Contemporary art changes this view of art to people. Contemporary art is a way for people to make art in a constructive way. People find themselves more engaged in forms of contemporary art. This form of art deals with much more than creations made inside the studio. It deals with more public content of life. It introduces people to the environmental and social aspects of life. There is a huge variety of ways for people to participate in forms of contemporary art. Clear to what the ideas of contemporary art are, what is an actual example of this type of art? A perfect example can come from an article on contemporary art called The Nature of Beauty in Contemporary Art by Suzi Gablik. In this article, Gablik writes about a friend of hers from Santa Fe, Dominique Mazeaud. Dominique initiates a project called "The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande River." Her project consists of her going to the river, once a month, with a couple of friends and picking garbage out of the river. Each time she visits the river, she writes down her thoughts on the her experiences that day with her friends and the river itself. Overtime, her friends loose interest in the project. Dominique, however, still felt the need to go to the river and enjoy its company and beauty. Not even to pick of garbage, she continues to go to the river every month as if it was a friend of hers. This is contemporary art. Dominique becomes involved with her environment by visiting the river every month. The original notion of going to clean the river is forgotten. The only thing that she wants to do in the end is just be with the river and enjoy it's company. Contemporary art helps people get in touch with their inner self. It helps them appreciate things such as nature. With the appreciation of the world you live in, you appreciate life itself in the highest sense.
It is extremely important for everybody in the world to appreciate life for what it is, and thank God for such a wonderful gift. Many people today forget about how lucky they are to be here, living in this world. Contemporary art introduces these things to people. When people participate in forms of contemporary art, they come out of the experience with some sort of appreciation for what life has to offer for them. Life is full of surprises, good and bad. Knowing this, people should always be appreciative and happy of what they have. Although so many people are selfish and unaware of the great gift given to us, contemporary art attempts to show people just how lucky they truly are to be where they are today.

Art Comes in Unusual Forms

"One of the principle ways we can change our relationship to difficult art is by repetition. An unpleasant piece of music may, the sixth and seventh time we listen, reveal new beauty. If we study one of Josef Albers's seemingly simple paintings of different colored squares, the colors start to shift. Of course, difficulty doesn't always give way to revelation-sometimes what follows is, alas, frustration. But when it does, we get an additional sense of satisfaction: The arduous ascent has been rewarded with a panoramic view."


Art is not always presented the way you might imagine...Maybe you have to look further into it, and it's unusual characteristics.

Title: Midnight Jazz

Artist: Carl (no last name provided)

Art Type: Abstract

Time Period: Present day

Art is something that has, in a way, unlimited characteristics, in that there are so many things in the world that could be considered art. There is more to art than just painting a picture, or singing a song that you made up yourself. Art involves interpretation and imagination as well. What a piece of art does for you is extremely important. Also, how you interpret that piece of art is important as well. The piece above could be interpreted simply as a piece of paper with instruments drawn all over the place, with a contorted face present. However, there is more than meets the eye within this painting. To you, this piece could mean absolutely nothing, but to a musician, especially a jazz musician, this piece could be a life inspiring piece.

Midnight Jazz is a very unique piece, in the way that it is presented to those looking at it. Instantly you know that the piece is one that is presenting music, in particular, jazz music. The title itself states the word jazz. When looking at the work of art, one might conclude that the piece is very weird and unusual looking compared to a lot of other works that are straight forward and show exactly what it is it wanted to show. Midnight Jazz makes you look deeper into it to reveal what it is that it is trying to represent. Jazz is a distinct type of art music that in a sense is a array of instruments following a common repetitive beat. Midnight Jazz takes both the art of music and the art of actually painting a picture, and puts them both together as one. This being a perfect example, when a person first looks at this picture, how many would be the first to say, "There's two types of art in that painting." Not many would catch on such a thing. The artist wants those who look at this painting to think about the world of jazz and how important it is to people in the music world. Jazz in many senses transformed the music world upon its creation. Because jazz played such an important role in changing the world of music, it is important to address it and recognize it for it's true value. Within the piece of art, a face appears in between the instruments. The person within this piece of art appears to be playing multiple instruments. His eyes appear to be looking in different directions at the different instruments. One eye is focusing on the instruments to the left, while the other eye is focusing on the instruments to the right. However, the two eyes are actually one eye of two different people, both playing instruments. This piece is a form of abstract art. It appears that it is one person with one eye going a different direction, when really it is two people standing back to back, each playing an instrument. The other instruments appear to be floating in the background, but are actually just being played by other people behind the two standing back to back. Jazz is full of excitement and entertainment, which is what is presented in this painting. The vivid colors catch the eye, and help to express the excitement of the the painting. Although the instruments are not painted in extreme detail, they are still presented in a small assortment to show the variety of instruments involved in jazz.

Midnight Jazz is a perfect painting in the jazz world. In a sense, by viewing this painting, the artist shows you exactly what jazz is, and what it is that is involved with jazz. Jazz is full of things such as excitement, activities, and various instruments, all of which is portrayed in this work of art. Jazz is something that needs to be expressed with a lot of detail. This painting shows these details perfectly. As previously stated, the art of jazz and the art of painting are all portrayed as one.

Penn's Treaty with the Indians

Title: Penn's Treaty with the Indians
Artist: Benjamin West
Nationality of Artist: American
Year of Piece: 1771-1772
Period of Time in which piece was created: Around the time the Europeans, such as William Penn, explored and settled in North America.

This piece of art shows the importance of history. History is everything from the past, that we can never actually physically see because it has already happened. Through art, however, we can attempt to picture how things, such as Penn's treaty with the Indians, actually prevailed back then. Art is an excellent way to show things in the eyes of those back then.