... what an ambitious title! But I will dare an attempt at a summary. For almost 22 years - a fifth! - of the 21st century have already passed. This is still very hard to believe, for many of us - hence the multitude of memes that claim that 20 years ago was 1980 😁 Similar to that point of view, the term 'contemporary art' describes all art from roughly the 1960s and 70s - starting with Pop Art - until today. Which, it seems, is a sufficiently long life span for one art movement. So we can assume that the end is near. And what happens next? Will what we know as 'contemporary art' soon receive another name? Or are we entering a new art chapter, different from what we have known and leaving 'contemporary' behind? Let's see what the art world has to say about this.
 |
| Tony Tasset, "Eye", 2007 |
A very general but no less true observation is that art has become very political. The most successful artists of our time, be it Banksy or Ai Weiwei, address social disparities, racial tensions and criticize political agendas. This isn't new, but it is more prominent than ever as consequences of globalization and the internet. Events like the refugee crisis, climate change and Covid-19 have and will continue to have a major impact on the contents of the artworks of our time. Another important reality is the predominance of US American Art. A shift in the art power dynamic from Europe to Northern America happened right around WWII and the US is now only strengthening her position. This has many reasons - the ideological and artistic 'liberation' from Europe, an extremely successful cultural industry in domains like movies, tv, or music, and, of course, economics. Art always goes where money is. A little ironic, then, that capitalist critique makes so much money. But art has always been contradictory...
 | ||
| Ed Ruscha, "Our Flag", 2017 While overall, art tendencies were leaning more towards abstraction in the past century, it seems like realism - if only set in another sort of universe - is having a revival. It just suffices to look at the photos I have chosen for this post. Since the message is often, as noticed above, one of societal criticism, representationalism suits it better. In terms of materials, paintings and sculpture remain the most broadly used and recognized art pieces, though performance, street and environmental art continue to be as successful as they were in the 20th century, for example in the cases of Maria Abramovic or Christo. The biggest change that the 21st century art has brought however is doubtlessly the digitalization of the art world. It might cast a shadow on analogue art as a whole. Or at least form a trifecta with 'conventional' painting and sculpture. With digital artist Beeple selling a collage as an NFT for 69 million US dollars, we are just at the beginning of this global tendency.
|
It's also inevitable to look at the historical side. While Western art history continues to be somewhat dominant, after a long time of a quasi-monarchy, this century is really making an effort at adding, reconstructing and rewriting the art stories of neglected countries and even continents; sometimes trying to include all histories into a single type of world art history, other times creating parallel stories (I prefer the first). The market is catching up, too. Fairs are getting more and more global. And of course following the money. It has never been as lucrative to invest in art as it is now, no matter if you are a philanthropist, an oligarch or a Sheikh. The Louvre Abu Dhabi project from 2017 was quite a sensation and remains a questionable endeavor. But money and political power go hand in hand. Speaking of politics - with Colonialism gone, some Western museums are returning looted art its rightful possessors - France recently gave back 26 artifacts to Benin, while the British Museum remains unfazed, at least for now.
 |
| Yoshitomo Nara, "Prototype A to Z Memotial Dog", 2007 |
And finally, what about women? Female artists have found more connection to the art world than ever before, but still earn much less, have less gallery representation, are shown less in museums, with their art being bid for much lower prices at auctions. While the public is rediscovering artistic geniuses like Artemisia Gentileschi or Hilma af Klint, women from countries with severe misogynist policies obviously still cannot work freely nor show their works or only do so once they get the possibility to immigrate to the West - take Shirin Neshat. Female art critics, gallery owners and dealers remain a minority. But it is evident that this gap was never closer to disappearing than in this century. Maybe, the 22nd century will reach complete equality?
 |
| Amy Sherald. "First Lady Michelle Obama", 2018 |
To resume my observations - the art of this century has changed its appearances. The connections to the 20th century are nevertheless strong. Generally, Modern Art, the movement that came before Contemporary, remains the more popular among the public and the more expensive one in auctions. That might change towards the second half of this century. Art, as always, reflects our desires, hopes and vices and no matter what form it takes, it is ours to admire, debate, criticize and partake in. My favorite artists of the 21st century? Amy Sherald, Jenny Savile, John Currin, Kehinde Wiley and Takashi Murakami. How about you? And what do you think will the next art period be called? What will contemporary art be? Will it be analogue vs digital? Let me know. PS: if you need a little historical refresher, see my short introduction into art movements here.
Talk to you soon,
J.
0 Comments