Paintings as a Form of Art - Essay Example

Name Tutor Course Date Introduction Art has managed to transverse over time and place and over many centuries to portray human feelings, moods and their expressions of what they see, hear, think, perceive and sometimes to record what is transpiring in the life of the artist be it politically, socially, economically, environmentally and even culturally. The aim of art is to impact on the senses, feelings and the intellect of the person viewing or touching the art (Hartt, 1985). Art is expressed in form of human actions and modes of expressions such as music, literary works, photography, paintings, architecture and sculpture. The most intriguing aspect about art is that it never ages as it is able to live from the past and into the present as illustrated by people who admire century’s old arts even though they may not know and they may not care to know who made the art, for what reasons, when, how and where. The history of painting has often been disrupted over time to change form and context but has remained consistent all through. Prior to the twentieth century, painting was in form of representational and classical patterns which were later to change to pure abstracts and conceptual arts (Honour & Fleming, 2005). This report seeks to analyze the role the human figure has played in panting since the 1980s and analyzing how it returned after conceptualism and minimalism. What role the human figure has played in painting since the 1980s Among the initial people to paint and even sculpt died more than three hundred centuries ago and their paintings and sculptures still exists to date and preserved in museums and are expected to remain and exist in the millenniums to come. Painting has in many instances been subject of theoretical pressure but has managed to become stronger and more popular following times when it was on the verge of extinction or perceived as insignificant or weak (Hartt, 1985). The ability of painting to remain resurgent over time and place can be attributed to the flexibility of painting as an essential and elemental way for the artist to express their emotions, thoughts, ideas and attitudes (Foster, 1985). Similarly, pluralism in the practice and process of painting is clearly apparent. Abstract painting did not sustain its position as ‘modern’ following the rise of neo-expressionism that occurred in the early 1980s globally. Painting in the 1980s would take on new meaning as the figurative forms of painting were used as a platform to address crucial issues at the time such as social inequalities, social injustice, gender, rising environmental concerns and cultural conflicts among others (Foster, 1985). Abstract painting was revisited although it would take on new forms and expressions. The spread of pluralism in the 1980s can be associated with disbandment of established regional arts societies as artists became itinerant while the role of art instructors and art colleges took reign since painting style was not merely a matter of legacy (MMA & Roberts, 2007). The disbandment of regional art communities can be attributed to rising social and political consciousness of radical modern and urban based art in early 1980s where issues of social history, oral culture and cultural issues took precedent as painters and artists began to blend conventional motifs, images and modern art expressions (Foster, 1985). Post 1980s the human form has interestingly taken on new meaning artistically as artists opts to use the human form as mediums to portray their artistic intelligence (Honour & Fleming, 2005). Among such is the rise and present use of body tattoos and body painting of the female form as an expressive art. For example, female forms have been painted to depict mermaids while male forms have been artistically painted to depict myths such as vampires. Important to note is that human figure is a prime inspiration in arts such as portraiture and life drawing. Painting of the human figure has been routinely used in the movie industry both in theatre and action thrillers. Body art which involves use of human figure include body branding, scarification and body painting among others which are form of performance arts which are predominantly used to make artistic statements (MMA & Roberts, 2007). Among body painting post 1980s include Mehndi which is a temporary form of body painting which uses henna-made pigments. Among artists who use body painting more often includes clowns, actors and dancers and is often used in body painting festivals/ carnival. The human form has been used to in painting to represent what is considered beautiful and as a way of celebrating nudity. According to Foster (1985), the rise of painting in the 1980s was characterized by use of arts to depict social and political issues, innovations and creativity in photography, rising interests in the use of digital and video technologies and artists using new mediums for their paintings other than canvases. The human body and technology began to be the mediums of choice which produced new forms and aspects of painting thus, a rise in painting despite strong presence of previous movements of the 1960s onwards such as minimalism and conceptual arts (Hartt, 1985). Among new forms of paintings that re-emerged in the 1980s that were expressive in nature and sought to address social, cultural and political subjects (MMA & Roberts, 2007). They include graffiti that sought to extend beyond artistic boundaries in terms of mediums used as new mediums such as walls, plastic mediums, trains, roofs and billboards became popular and in terms of paint used as graffiti artists opted for unconventional paints such as spray cans, stencils and marker pens. How painting survived the rise of Minimalism and Conceptualism and was on the rise in the 1980's Prior to 1960s, paintings were primarily in form of pure abstracts also referred to as abstract expressionism (Dunn, 2003) notes that in the period 1960s, there emerged new artistic movements that sought to deconstruct what constitutes to making art, art. This saw painting diminish temporarily but would re-emerge in the late 1970s and early 80s as new generation of painters opted for new form of painting referred to as neo-expressionism, which had more preference for use of expressive imagery such as use of cartoons to represent different symbols and objects (Foster, 1985). The shift to neo-expressionism in most parts of Europe such as Britain and Ger many among other countries saw painters use large formats of paintings, imagery, expressive paintings and figuration. Nevertheless, adoption of neo-expressionism was criticized as critics such as Foster felt it was motivated by profit purposes (Foster, 1985). The 1980s saw the crash of arts. The survival of painting past the artistic movements of the 1960s such as minimalism and conceptualism was a result of some sort of revolt against the ideologies spread about art by minimalism and conceptualism and a need to blend the art and the artist. In addition, new artists had a desire to use figuration, symbolism, feelings and narratives by using colors (Dunn, 2003). Painting returned again post minimalism and post conceptualism to depict recognizable elements and items like the human body and portraying emotions through use of bright colors and harmony of colors. Conceptualism is a form of art where the idea behind an artistic work overrides conventional concerns for artistic visuals and aesthetic principles which have its origins in the 20th century but gained prominence in the 60s. This form of art uses elements of expressions to portray the nature of items and also depict the social and the political matters (Newman & Bird, 1999). Conceptualism downplays the need for acquiring painterly skills as highlighted by (Foster, 1985). On the other hand, minimalism is an advanced form of abstract art that came after abstract expressionism where artists focused on depicting plainness of form and developing arts that were devoid of expressive contents (Obendori, 2009). Objects were depicted in their basic and geometric structure without any form of feeling or expression which was often represented in grids and was meant to portray artistic purity which was basically the intellectual concept of the object (Obendori, 2009). Minimalism greatly compares with conceptualism in that they all are focused on the elemental idea of the art created. In present times, art still plays a major role on how artists in different cultures, locations over time and place express their feelings and is particularly used to highlight cultural, political, and social issues affecting the society. Present arts are not separated by dichotomy of objectivity or subjectivity and arts are considered successful regardless whether they are abstract or figurative (Hartt, 1985). The most important aspect of modern arts is content and is often characterized by use of varied mediums. How Conceptual art encouraged a reassessment of the medium and how artists are putting it to work According to Newman & Bird (1999), the conceptual art is characterized by an abandonment of having painterly skills and instead focusing on the idea of the work. Conceptualism did not only foster a re-assessment of art in terms of form and style, but also influenced a re-assessment of the movement of ideas and artistic works by preferring collaborative forms of arts and downplaying the art object in preference for the concept/ idea (Pearlman, 2003). In so doing, it opened avenues for artists to experiment with abandon and would portray their arts on any medium wherever and whenever. This has seen artists portray their arts on plastic mediums, stones, and wood, steel and on human body. Presently, artistic ideas are portrayed on all forms of mediums among others, on metal where arts is displayed on vehicles, on walls through graffiti and on human form as illustrated by movies such as ‘avatars’ and on wood. Conclusion Paintings as a form of art has managed to survive over time and place and over varied artistic movements that have come and gone and they have and continue to span across cultures, geographical locations and centuries. Although minimalism and conceptualism sought to dominate the scene and weaken painting, painting returned in the 1980s although in new forms to portray emotions, figuration, and myths using color texture, tone and harmony. Works Cited Dunn, M. 2003. New Zealand painting: a concise history. Auckland: Auckland University Press. Foster, H. 1985. Between Modernism and the Media. In Recordings, Bay Press. Hartt, F. 1985. Art: a history of painting, sculpture, architecture, Volume 2. London: Prentice-Hall. Honour, H., & Fleming, J. 2005. A world history of art. Sidney: Laurence King Publishing. MMA. & Roberts, R. 2007. MOMA, highlights since 1980: 250 works from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. Newman, M. & Bird, J. 1999. Rewriting conceptual art. New Jersey: Reaktion Books. Obendori, H. 2009. Minimalism: Designing Simplicity. New York: Springer. Pearlman, S. 2003. Un-packaging art of the 1980s. Illinois: University of Chicago Press. Read More