Film Cannister

Lorena Guillén Vaschetti was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1974 and currently lives and works in Buenos Aires. In 2000, Lorena received a degree in architecture and anthropology from the University of Buenos Aires. Her work has been widely exhibited and published in the United States, South America and Europe. Her first book, Historia, Memoria, y Silencios, Schilt 2011 was distinguished by PhotoEspana, 2012 and PDN as one of the Best Books of the Year. Her work is in the permanent museum collections of Danish Museum of Photographic Art in Denmark, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes of Rio de Janeiro and the Southeast Museum of Photography in Florida. Vaschetti approaches photography as an anthropologist and the simplicity of her work allows the viewer to bring in their own stories, conclusions and realities to the images. Using the idea of memory as a foundation for her work, Vaschetti's photographic series dissects how we are in the present as a result of what we remember from the past. In her Historia, Memoria, y Silencio series the artist captures elements and artifacts recovered from a box of thrown out family photographs. In 2009, Vaschetti’s mother threw away all of the family slides to protect her daughter from their family history. Vaschetti was able to recover only one box out of the many that her mother discarded. She re-photographed the contents from her perspective, choosing to leave the slides that were wrapped in packages unopened. Bound in elastic bands, and concealed in film cannisters, these artifacts conceal a history of family secrets that the artist will never learn of.

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.