What are the main movements of contemporary art?

Contemporary art, as we have seen, covers different eras and over time different artistic movements emerged, such as the following:

     Pop art: it is defined by the interest in portraying the culture of societies from the 1950s to the 1970s. This artistic movement is represented by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

     Photorealism: focused on creating hyperrealistic drawings and paintings. Generally, the artists of this movement relied on photographs to reproduce portraits, landscapes and other works. Photorealism is represented by artists such as Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter.

     Minimalism: It was presented in the 1960s. This movement is characterized by simple and abstract aesthetics. Minimalism “invites viewers to respond to what they see, not what they think a work of art represents.” Says the graduate in Communication Sciences with a specialty in Journalism Regina Sienra in My Modern Met. The artists who represent this movement are Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt and Dan Flavin.

     Urban or street art: this is one of the most recent contemporary art movements. It started with graffiti in the 80s. It is associated with social activism. Some artists who represent this artistic movement are Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

There are other artistic movements that fall into the category of contemporary art such as conceptual art, performance, installation and land art.

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Contemporary art works show a rupture in artistic unity, emerging as a reaction to the situation and social-historical context in which the artist is, shares the graduate in Art History, specializing in contemporary art, Adriana Pazos Ottón. When we talk about contemporary art we talk about a type of art that goes beyond temporality, it is a movement that is linked to concepts and contexts assimilated by artists and their environment.

Did you already know the history behind this type of art? Learn more about Social Sciences, History, Philosophy and Art by reading our related articles in the news section.