LESS IS MORE, or LESS IS A BORE!
This theme centers around the different forms of art during this period, the people who have massive amounts of color and shapes on visual stimulation who fall under Less is a Bore category and those who believe Less is More, such as the color field artists and other minimalists who have little visual stimulation or color or difference.
Historical Context
This art historical period was very influenced by many world events, as well as previous art movements. This was a time of extreme expressionism, minimalism, and popular art.
One of the biggest influences of this period was the ending of the second world war, and the advent of the cold war. The cold war was a massive arms race that took place from 1957 to 1991 and was a sustained state of tension between world powers U.S and the Western Bloc, and the Eastern bloc with the Soviet Union. Both of these powers had the capability to wipe all life off the planet at the drop of a pin, and this significantly affected the people of the time. The war was often referred to in popular culture during this time, as well as times after this. The entire war was nothing but psychological warfare and regular indirect battles through proxy conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. However, this war had several outcomes, such as the space race, the improvement of nuclear weapons and the mass emphasis on general education as well as an increase in popular, consumerist, culture.
By the end of the century, major changes had taken place. More technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. New advances such as communications technology, like cell phones or computers, transportation technology, such as commercial air planes, medical advances, such as as the discovery of penicillin and the use of vaccines, had radically changed every day life. The world was undergoing a major period was globalization, radically affecting the art of the time, as well as the general populace.
Art had changed radically along with everything else, the U.S was now the primary source of art, as New York became the art capital of the world. This was a time of movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, Minimalism Photo Realism, Pop Art, Environmentalism, Feminism, Performance Art, Conceptual, and Post Modernist art. Abstract expressionism was an American post WWII movement and was the art movement that helped to put New York City at the center of the Western art world. It had a emphasis on spontaneous automatic, or subconscious creation. Art like dripping paint onto a canvas was considered Abstract Expressionism. Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York at around the same time as Abstract Expressionism and was closely related to it. The focus of this art movement placed less emphasis on brushstrokes and action, and instead put more emphasis on overall consistency of color and form of the art. Often Color Field art is just simply lines of a simple color across a canvas. Minimalism had a focus of eliminated all non-essential characteristics of an art piece, making the artwork very abstract and very simple. Photo realism was the genre of painting based on using technology such as cameras to help create information to then create a painting that appears to be photographic. Their scenes of artwork can appear to be extremely realistic, with all the normal detail necessary.
Pop art is an art movement that was intended ot challenge normal traditions of fine art. In normal Pop art, material is removed from is known context or combined with other material that can be completely unrelated to it. The art is often taken from what is currently in use in advertising and uses it to make fun of the advertisement strategy or today's culture. Environmentalism was an art movement that used environmental objects to produce temporary art in a naturalistic way. The Feminist art movement was the efforts of feminists to make art that reflects woman's lives and experiences, as well as to publicize their art to make it as recognized as men's artwork. Performance art was a new form that was intended to be presented to an audience in some form of scripted or unscripted manner. Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the artwork takes precedence over the traditional representation of normal art. Postmodernism is in general the era that follows modernism, and is a term for the new interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, architecture, economics, etc.
One of the biggest influences of this period was the ending of the second world war, and the advent of the cold war. The cold war was a massive arms race that took place from 1957 to 1991 and was a sustained state of tension between world powers U.S and the Western Bloc, and the Eastern bloc with the Soviet Union. Both of these powers had the capability to wipe all life off the planet at the drop of a pin, and this significantly affected the people of the time. The war was often referred to in popular culture during this time, as well as times after this. The entire war was nothing but psychological warfare and regular indirect battles through proxy conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. However, this war had several outcomes, such as the space race, the improvement of nuclear weapons and the mass emphasis on general education as well as an increase in popular, consumerist, culture.
By the end of the century, major changes had taken place. More technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. New advances such as communications technology, like cell phones or computers, transportation technology, such as commercial air planes, medical advances, such as as the discovery of penicillin and the use of vaccines, had radically changed every day life. The world was undergoing a major period was globalization, radically affecting the art of the time, as well as the general populace.
Art had changed radically along with everything else, the U.S was now the primary source of art, as New York became the art capital of the world. This was a time of movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, Minimalism Photo Realism, Pop Art, Environmentalism, Feminism, Performance Art, Conceptual, and Post Modernist art. Abstract expressionism was an American post WWII movement and was the art movement that helped to put New York City at the center of the Western art world. It had a emphasis on spontaneous automatic, or subconscious creation. Art like dripping paint onto a canvas was considered Abstract Expressionism. Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York at around the same time as Abstract Expressionism and was closely related to it. The focus of this art movement placed less emphasis on brushstrokes and action, and instead put more emphasis on overall consistency of color and form of the art. Often Color Field art is just simply lines of a simple color across a canvas. Minimalism had a focus of eliminated all non-essential characteristics of an art piece, making the artwork very abstract and very simple. Photo realism was the genre of painting based on using technology such as cameras to help create information to then create a painting that appears to be photographic. Their scenes of artwork can appear to be extremely realistic, with all the normal detail necessary.
Pop art is an art movement that was intended ot challenge normal traditions of fine art. In normal Pop art, material is removed from is known context or combined with other material that can be completely unrelated to it. The art is often taken from what is currently in use in advertising and uses it to make fun of the advertisement strategy or today's culture. Environmentalism was an art movement that used environmental objects to produce temporary art in a naturalistic way. The Feminist art movement was the efforts of feminists to make art that reflects woman's lives and experiences, as well as to publicize their art to make it as recognized as men's artwork. Performance art was a new form that was intended to be presented to an audience in some form of scripted or unscripted manner. Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the artwork takes precedence over the traditional representation of normal art. Postmodernism is in general the era that follows modernism, and is a term for the new interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, architecture, economics, etc.